Temple (25 page)

at least for a short time.
'Oh,' said I. 'Well, you.., you are welcome.'
The old man pointed a bony finger at my chest and nodded knowingly.
'Take heed, gold-eater. Renco is not the only
one whose destiny lies with that idol, you know.'
“I do not understand.”
'What I mean is Renco's role as guardian of the Spirit of
the People comes directly from the mouth of the Oracle at
Pachacamac.' The old man smiled that same toothless grin.
'And so does yours.'
I had heard of the Oracle at Pachacimac. She was the venerable old
woman who kept watch over the temple-shrine
there. The traditional keeper of the Spirit of the People.
'Why?' said I. 'What has the Oracle said of me?'
'Soon after the gold-eaters arrived on our shores, the Oracle
announced that our empire would be crushed. But she also foretold
that so long as the Spirit of the People stayed out of the hands of
our conquerors, our soul would live on.
But she made it very clear that only one man—and one man
only—-could keep the idol safe.“
'Renco.'
'Correct. But what she said in full was this:
“There will come a time when he will come,
A man, a hero, beholden of the Mark of the Sun.
He will have the courage to do battle with great lizards,
He will have the jinga,
He will enjoy the aid of bravehearted men,
Men who would give of their lives, in honour of his noble
cause,
And he will fall from the sky in order to save our spirit.
He is the Chosen One.”
“
'The Chosen One?' said I.
“That is right.”
I began to wonder whether I fell into the category of a
'bravehearted man' who would give of his life to help Renco. I
decided that I didn't.
Then I mused on the Oracle's use of the word jinga. I recalled that
it was a quality most revered in Incan culture.
It was that rare combination of poise, balance and speedh the
ability of a man to move like a cat.
I recalled our daring escape from Cuzco and the way Renco had leapt
lightly from rooftop to rooftop, and how he had slid down the rope
to land on the back of my horse. Did he move with the surefooted
grace of a cat? Without a doubt.
'What do you mean when you say he will have the courage to do
battle with great lizards?' I inquired.
The old man said, 'When Renco was a boy of thirteen, his mother was
taken by an alligator as she was retrieving water from the banks of
her local stream. Young Renco was with her at the time, and when he
saw the monster drag his mother into the river, he dived into the
water after her and wrestled with the ugly beast until it released
her from its grip. Not many men would leap into a stream to do
battle
with such a fearsome creature. Not least a boy of thirteen.'
I swallowed.
I had not known of this tremendous act of courage that Renco had
performed as a boy. I knew he was a brave man, but this? Well. I
could never do something like that.
The old man must have read my thoughts. He tapped my chest again
with his long bony finger.
'Don't dismiss your own brave heart, young gold-eater,'
said he. 'You yourself displayed enormous courage when you helped
our young prince escape from his Spanish cage.
Indeed, some would say that you showed the greatest
courage of all—the courage to do what was right.'
I bowed my head in modesty.
The old man leaned close to me. 'I do not believe such acts of
courage should go unrewarded either. No, as a reward for your
bravery, I would like to present you with this.'
He held up a bladder which had evidently been taken from the body
of a small animal. It appeared to be filled with some variety of
liquid.
I took the bladder. It had an opening at one extremity, through
which I surmised the bladder's holder could pour out its
contents.
'What is it?' I inquired.
'It is monkey urine,' said the old man keenly.
'Monkey urine,“ said I and flatly.
'It will protect you against the rapa,' said the old man.
'Remember, the rapa is a cat, and like all cats, it is a most vain
creature. According to the tribes of this region, there are some
liquids that the rapa despises with a fury. Liquids which, if
smeared all over one's body, will frighten off the rapa.'
I smiled weakly at the old man. It was, after all, the first time I
had ever been given the excrement of a jungle animal as a token of
appreciation.
“Thank you,” said I. 'Such a… wonderful.., gift.“
The old man seemed terribly pleased by my response and so he said,
'Then I should like to provide you with another.'
I endeavoured to beg off his generosity—lest he give me another
variety of animal discharge. But his second gift was not of the
physical kind.
'I would like to share with you a secret,' said he.
'And what secret is that?'
'If ever you need to escape from this village, enter the quenko and
take the hird tunnel on the right-hand side.
From there, alternate left then right, taking the fist tunnel you
see every time, but make sure you go to the left first.
The quenko will take you to the waterfall overlooking the vast
wetland forests. The secret to the labyrinth is simple, one only
has to know where to begin. Trust me, young gold- eater, and mark
these gifts. They could save your life.'
Refreshed by my slumber, I wandered up onto the roof of the citadel
once again.
There I found Renco, nobly keeping his vigil. He must have been
supremely fatigued, but he did not betray any such weariness. He
just stared vigilantly out over the main street of the town,
oblivious to the veil of rain that landed lightly on the crown of
his head. I arrived at his side wordlessly and followed his gaze
out over the village.
Aside from the rain, nothing moved.
Nay, nothing made a sound.
The eerie stillness of the village was haunting.
When he spoke, Renco didn't turn to face me. 'Vilcafor says he
opened the temple in daylight. Then he sent five of his finest
warriors into it to find Solon's treasure. They never returned. It
was only with the onset of night that the rapas emerged from within
the temple.'
'Are they out there now?' I inquired fearfully.
'I they are, then I have been unable to see them.'
I looked at Renco. His eyes were red and he had large bags beneath
both of them.
'My friend,' I said gently, 'you must sleep. You have to retain
your strength, especially if my countrymen find this town. Sleep
now, I shall keep the vigil, and I shall wake you if I see
anything.'
Renco nodded slowly. 'As usual, you are right, Alberto.
Thank you.'
And with that he went inside and I found myself stand ing alone on
the roof of the citadel, alone in the night.
Nothing stirred in the village below me.
It happened about an hour into my watch.
I had been watching the tiny wavelets of the river, glis tening
silver in the moonlight, when suddenly a small raft floated into
view. I spied three figures standing on the deck of the small
vessel, dark shadows in the night.
My blood ran cold.
Hernando's men…
I was about to run to get Renco when the raft pulled alongside the
village's small wooden jetty and its passen gers stepped up onto
the wharf and I garnered a better look at them.
My shoulders sank with relief.
They were not conquistadors.
They were Incans.
A man—dressed in the traditional attire of an Incan war- rior—and a
woman with a small child, all of them covered against the rain by
hoods and cloaks.
The three figures walked slowly up the main street, star ing in awe
at the carnage that littered the muddy road around them.
And then I saw it.
At first I thought it was just the shadow of a swaying branch cast
onto the side of one of the huts that lined the street. But then
the branch's shadow swayed away from the hut's wall and another
shadow remained in its place.
I saw the dark outline of a large cat—saw the black feline head,
the upturn of the nose, the tips of its high-pointed ears. Saw its
mouth open in silent anticipation of the kill.
At first I couldn't believe its size. Whatever this animal was, it
was enormous—
And then suddenly the animal was gone and all I saw was the hut's
wall, bare and empty, illuminated by the moon's rays.
The three Incans were now about twenty paces from the
citadel.
I whispered loudly to them in Quechuan. “Over here!
Come quickly! Come quickly!'
At first they didn't seem to understand what I was saying.
And then the first animal stepped slowly out into the main street
behind them.
'Run[” I called. 'They're behind you!'
The man of the group turned and saw the giant cat standing in the
mud behind them.
The animal moved slowly, with precision and calculation.
It looked like a panther. A massive black panther. Cold yellow eyes
looked down a tapered black snout—-eyes that stared with the
unblinking coolness of the cat.
At that moment, a second animal joined the first and the two rapas
stared intently at the small group before them.
Then they both lowered their heads and tensed their bodies like two
tightly wound springs waiting to burst into action.
'Run!' I cried. “Run!”
The man and the woman broke into a run and hastened toward the
citadel.
The two cats in the street leapt after them in pursuit.
I ran to the open doorway that led from the roof of the citadel
down into the main body of the structure. 'Renco!
Someone! Anyone! Open the main door! There are people out
there!'
I hastened back to the edge of the roof and arrived there just in
time to see the woman reach the base of the citadel carrying the
child in her arms. The man arrived right behind her.
The cats bounded down the street.
No-one downstairs had opened the door.
The woman looked up at me with frightened eyes—and for the shortest
of moments I found myself entranced by her
beauty. She was the most striking woman I had ever—
I made my decision.
I ripped my cloak from my body and, holding onto one end of it,
hurled the other end out over the edge of the roof.
“Grab my cloak!' I called. 'I will pull you up!'
The man snatched the other end of my garment and
handed it to the woman.
'Go!' he cried. 'Go!'
The woman took hold of my cloak and I pulled on it with all my
strength, hauling her—and the child in her arms—up toward the roof
of the citadel.
No sooner was she off the ground than I saw the warrior beneath her
get pummelled by one of the rapas. The man's body made a sickening
sound as it was thrown against the outer wall of the citadel. He
screamed as the rapa began to eat him alive.
With all my strength I heaved on my cloak, lifting the woman and
the child to safety.
They reached the rim of the roof, and in the light falling rain the
woman grabbed hold of the stone battlements, while at the same time
she attempted to hand her child over to me.
He was a small boy; with large, frightened brown eyes.
I struggled to hold onto three things at once the woman, the boy,
my cloakuand I looked out in horror to see that several other rapas
had slunk out into the main street of Vilcafor to view the
commotion.
Just then, one of the cats beneath us leapt up from the mud and
tried to snap its jaws around the woman's dan gling feet. But the
woman was too alert. She lifted her toes at the very last moment
and the cat's jaws closed on nothing but air.
'Help me,' she pleaded, her eyes frantic.
'I will,' said I, as the rain beat down on my face.
Whence the cat in the mud beneath her leapt again, this time
reaching out for her with its huge scythe-like claws, and this time
it caught the hem of her cloak and to my absolute horror I saw the
entire cloak go taut under its weight.
'No[” the woman cried as she felt the weight of the cat begin to
pull her down.
'Oh, Lord,' I breathed.
At which moment the cat yanked down hard on the
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woman's cloak and she tightened her grip on my wet hand, but it was
no use, the great cat was too heavy, too strong.
With a final scream, the woman slipped out of my grasp and, with
her child in her arms, she fell off the rim of the roof and out of
my sight.
It was then that I did the unthinkable.
I leapt out over the rim after her.
To this day, I don't know why I did it.
Maybe it was the way she had held onto her son that made me do it.
Or maybe it was the look of pure fear on her beautiful face.
Or maybe it was just her beautiful face.
I don't know.
I landed rather unheroically in a pool of mud that lay in front of
the citadel. As I did so, a spray of brown wetness
splattered all over my face, blinding me.
I wiped the mud away from my eyes.
And immediately saw no less than seven rapas standing in a close
semicircle around me, staring at me with their cold yellow
eyes.
My heart was pounding loudly inside my head. What I intended to do
now, I surely did not know.
The woman and the boy were right beside me. I stepped in front of
them and yelled fiercely at the phalanx of mon sters before
us.
'Be gone, I say! Be gone!'
I extracted an arrow from the quiver on my back and slashed it back
and forth in front of the giant cats' faces.
The rapas didn't seem to care for my pathetic act of bravado.
They closed in around us.
Now truly, it must be said that if these fiendish creatures
had looked large from the roof of the citadel, up close they looked
positively massive. Dark, black and powerful.
Then, and abruptly, the rapa standing nearest to me lashed out with
its forepaw and snapped the sharpened point of my arrow clean off.
The big creature then lowered its head and snarled at me, tensed
itself to launch and then—
Something dropped with a loud splash into a muddy puddle of water
to my right.
I turned to see what it was. And I frowned.
It was the idol.
It was Renco's idol.
My mind spun like a windmill. What was Renco's idol doing down
here? Why would anyone throw it down into the mud at a time like
this!
Whence I looked up and saw Renco himself leaning out over the edge
of the citadel's roof. It was he who had just
thrown the idol down to me.
And then it happened.
I froze.
The noise was like nothing I had ever heard in my life.
It was only a soft sound, but it was utterly pervasive. It cut
through the air like a knife, piercing even the sound of the
falling rain.