Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (14 page)

As Siza
snuggled
under the warm
fur
covers
,
her mind
began
to wander. S
trange
and vivid image
s raced through her head
. She heard the Protector,
Ayar’s
voice;
it was
as if
he
was
calling her
from a distance
.
She could no
t
quite
make out
the
words but she
still
felt drawn to them.
Even as she dreamed, she
somehow
knew that
they would be
back
together again
soon
.

*****

For over an
hour,
t
he old soldier sat on a
little
,
three legged
stool outside the garrison
building
as he watched the
long
, empty
road
. As
he waited
for his men to return
, he wondered what,
if anything,
they
would find
back at Tarapoto
.
He
heard the
garrison
door
creak
ing
open behind him
and smiled
.
The girl was
at last
awake.

“Are you f
eeling
any
better
,
my dear?” he
asked
without turning
around
. H
is eyes
were
still
glued to
the
empty
road
, watching for any sign of movement, any hint of the return of his men
.

Small
hands
clamped
tightly down
up
on his
aged
shoulders
,
they were
impossibly, inhumanly strong
and all the old man could do was
to
scream as Siza’s teeth ripped into the leathery flesh of his neck.

She enjoyed this new taste.

9
- The
Undead
Arrive At Cuzco

Word soon
reached
the capital
, the words that the undead army were on their way
.
The first
of the
runner
s
had
arrived at the
gate
s of Cuzco
the day
after the attack
first
began in
the town of
Tarapoto.
Throughout the afternoon,
more and more
of them
arrived,
along with
steady
handfuls of
refugees escaping from the oncoming storm. A
ll
of them told
the same
terrifying
story. An
army
of the undead
were devouring all that stood in their path as they swayed through the empire
,
and they would be here
very
soon
.
S
tories of their
evil
deeds and
of
what they did to who
m
ever they captured spread like wildfire throughout the
city
and
into the ears of
both sets of
troops
amassed
outside.

W
or
d about the coming horde
and
about
where they came from
brought
a deep
rage and ire
to Minco.
On hearing
the news
,
h
e cursed and swore
that he would take
his revenge,
knowing
of course
,
who was to blame for
all
this.

Against all traditions
and with no regard to the law,
but w
ith a hundred
of his
most faithful
men
at his side
, Minco
stormed
over to
The Temple of Inti
, where Taipi and priests claimed dominion
. A
ny priest stupid enough to try
to
stop him
from
entering
was
slain without
a
moment’s
hesitation
or
any show of
mercy
.
He
was no
t
about to
argue
or bargain
with these
so-called
holy men
.

After smashing his way in
, Minco found
just
what
h
e
suspected
-
the High Priest
was
nowhere
to be foun
d
. However
,
a
fter a
little
bit of
gentle
persuasion
by
some
of
Minco’s
bigger
soldiers
,
one of the
few
remaining
temple
priests
finally
admitted where his master
had gone. Minco
listened but he
already knew what the answer would be.

The damn fool had
gone to Huacas and
unleashed the army of Supay
.

M
inco met
with
his generals
and
told
them
that the fight against the undead would happen outside the walls. They were to prepare the
armies;
they were to hold the line
at all costs, nothing was to get inside the city
.

“What about the Spaniards
, the ones
that are still outside
the walls
?” One of his men said. “Will they fight alongside us?”

“They will have no choice,” Minco replied
. “I will go and speak to them
now.”

The Protector left the gates and went
up the hill to where the Spaniards had set up camp. Surrounded by his own
men, Minco
called out to them.
“A
hostile
army is approachin
g. Y
ou
must
go down and join with my soldiers
and prepare for battle
.”
The Spaniards
looked silently
at him with mistrust
in their eyes until Minco added,
“If you stay here
,
you will all be dead before the sun
sets
.”

“Where is
Pizarro
?” o
ne of the soldiers
asked, slowly coming
forward. “Why does he not come here to tell us of this threat?”

“He cannot leave the city
at this time
,” Minco replied
simply. H
e did not want them to
know what
had transpired
inside
the city walls
, not yet anyway
. “Trust
me;
the danger is
only too
real.”

“We’re not going anywhere,” the surly soldier said
as h
is hand
inched towards
the hilt of his sword. “
Pizarro
ordered us to stay here and that’s what we’ll do until he tells us otherwise.”

“I don’t have time to argue with you,” Minco shouted. “If you want to stay here and die
,
be my guest
.”

The Spaniards were surprised, they expected a bit more of an
argument
, even though they did not believe him
,
they instantly knew something was amiss.

“
Fools
,” Minco hissed as
he walked away with his generals
.
“
Soon to be dead fools.
”

*****

On returning
to the
step
s of the
palace
, Minco
cal
led
Pizarro
out
for a meeting. No matter what was heading their way
,
h
e still needed to ensure his Kings release. That was
,
and
always
would be
,
his first goal
.
He needed the Spaniard outside so he could see the panic spreading around the city.

“
Are you mad?”
Pizarro
spoke from the window. “Why should I leave here? What do I have to gain from this?”

“You have everything to
gain,
Pizarro
, and nothing to lose. You know I will not risk my King, this is important and goes far beyond any problem you could imagine.”

“Don’t trust him
,
sir,” Almargo whispered in his master’s ear. “He must be up to something, please, you need to remember he’s nothing but a savage.”

Pizarro
never answered his
man;
he called over to two of his men. “Keep a good hold of the king, if they try anything
,
kill
him;
show them that Spaniards are true to their word. I need to find out what he’s on about.” With one last look outside at his mountain of
gold,
he headed for the door. All Almargo could do was shake his head.

“
Spaniard, we have a problem,” Minco
said
as his nemesis approached
, walking down the steep stone steps
.

“Don’t
go and
do anything stupid
now
,
Minco,
”
Pizarro
replied with unhidden contempt. “
I
can
see
well
that
the gold is
almost
delivered. Wi
th
a little more
time
and
patience,
we can finish this
unfortunate incident
.
”
He
gestured back
ward
to
wards
the palace. “
You’ll
then
get your King back
in one piece
and I’ll take my ransom
and leave
.
E
veryone will be happy.”

“No...
y
ou
don’t understand
me;
this has nothing to do with the damn
ed
gold
. There is an enemy approaching-
a fierce and deadly foe.
An army of the walking dead has been set free from the underworld and they
’
ll be here
at the city
gates
before the day is out.”

Pizarro
laughed
aloud
like a child. “You must t
hink I am really stupid, Inca
n
. What was that? A
n army of the w
alking dead
,
you say
?
You could
’
ve at least tried something
a bit more
believable
than that
.
” His tone changed
and the a
nger
was
once again
clear in his voice
. “
I’ve warned you before and
I’ll tell you
this
again
, my friend
. D
on’t try to
trick me or we’ll all end up dead.”

“What I tell you is true,” Minco said, unsure of how he could prove this to the Spaniard. “
You
have
got
t
o listen to me.
I
don’t want you to do
anything;
I
just
need you to b
e aware that a battle is coming.
I need
you to remain calm while
we
deal with this threat.”

Pizarro
just smiled
at him
and shook
his head in disbelief
.

Minco
did
n
o
t have to worry
l
ong about providing
some proof.
Screams ra
ng out from the sentry posts
, men high up in the towers
were pointing deep into the jungle
. T
hey were here
,
and it was
far sooner than
anyone
expected.

“
Get back
to the palace
and wait
for this to be finished
. N
o matter what you hear
or see
,
I need you to
stay inside.
”
Minco shouted
at
Pizarro
,
and then
sprinted away
without waiting for an answer.

The Spaniard was still unsure what was
happening. He suspected it was some sort of
trick
,
b
ut
seeing
the
grim
faces of a few
of Minco’s
soldiers
gave
him
some
doubts. Then his
thought
s drifted to
his
own
soldiers
that were still camped
outside th
e
city
gates.
I
nstinctively,
Pizarro
touched the hilt of his sword, but before he could
move,
h
is eyes
were drawn
to the
wondrous
array of gold
piled up high
to his
left
.
He released
the grip of his
sword,
mouth-watering
. His
hunger to
have
the gold was
far
, far
stronger
than any
urge to save his men
.
The Spanish soldiers
would have to look after themselves
for a while
. T
hey were being paid enough to take that risk
. Turning away from the forthcoming battle
,
Pizarro
returned to the palace.