Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (33 page)

A massive
sea of bone was all that was left of the soldiers and citizens of Cuzco. Their limbs
had been picked clean
and laid out on display
.

Once
again
, with
no way
to get
around the carnage
the survivors had to endure
walk
ing
gingerly through it
.
Their eyes wer
e invariably drawn to the carnage
as they moved
and a few o
f them retched violently as the horrors of
what they were doing
came rushing to their heads
.
Skulls, bones and ribcages gleamed
brightly
in the
warming
morning sun and
they
all noticed that not one
single
bit of flesh or sinew remained. The hunger of the beasts had been
nothing if not
complete.

Once
they ventured
inside the gates, the survivors
found
things were only a little bit
better. There
were a few people milling aimlessly around, most likely looking for what was left of their
loved ones.
Some even called
out their family members’ names in some sort of
futile attempt to find someone still alive.

Minco
’s
heart
lurched
at what he saw. He
knew that even though he had saved his King
,
he had failed to protect the city
and its people
. He
kept
his eyes straight ahead
, not willing
to
see
the eyes and faces of his citizens
, the people he had abandoned
.

As
the
y
walked
the
long
road
that led
through the centre of the city
to
the palace
,
Inguill
gave
Minco’s hand
a quick squeeze then let go
. “I
must go back to the temple
now
.
T
here will
already
be plenty of p
eople
there
who need me.”

Minco wanted to
cling to her, telling her
that he needed her too
,
but he understood
her devotion. “
Oh, I see
,” he teased
.
“
You
want to avoid
the King
rambling
on
for the next hour
.
”
He winked and gave a playful grin, doing his best to hide his pain.
“You just l
eave it all to me
then
, I’ll hear his speech
all alone
.”

She smiled
before
departing, and then she was gone
.

Minco hurried
to join
the others as they proceeded up the blood stained steps to the palace.

21
-
A
New Inca
n Empire

Atahualpa
was sitting on his throne when he
saw the saviours of Cuzco
enter and
he
quickly rose
with a genuine smile of warmth
to
meet
them. He
th
ank
ed
Minco
,
even with the Spaniard
Pizarro
still
at his side
.

“You have saved us
,
my Protector,
” he shouted
for all the court to hear
. “You’ve saved us all. Come here my son
,
let me thank you
.”
As the
y approached, the
King
held his arms
wide. Minco stepped towards him but in that instant,
Pizarro
flicked his wrist, bringing the
sharp
little
knife
into view once more and dove in front of Minco
.

In an instant
, the blade was
forced deep into the
frail
monarch’s
chest. The
startled
King
looked down at the weapon
,
shocked by the sight of
his
own
blood
as it spread over his pristine robes
.
Wit
hout muttering a
nother
word
,
the king fell dead to the floor in an unceremoniously heap
.

Even before the king’s
body hit the ground
,
h
is
few
remaining
guards
had already drawn their weapons and
were rushing
towards his killer.

Yupanqui
moved
in between them
quickly and
stood
with his
own
arms outstretched
.
He was keeping
to
his end
of the
bargain;
he was doing exactly what
Francisco
Pizarro
had told him
to do
.
Yupanqui shouted
at
the court
guards to keep back. He
informed
them
that he- heir to the throne-
was now their
King
and
that
they
must now
obey
him in his brother’s stead
.

He explained to
them
that
Atahualpa had ultimately been
the
reason
Supay
’s army rose to slaughter and enslave
their people
. He told them that his brother had gotten
just
what he deserved. A new
King
stood before them this day,
ready
to
free the people and
rebuild their empire.

Minco
stood motionless,
somehow
frozen
in place
. The shock of
see
ing
his k
ing
’
s death was
nearly the undoing of his
sanity.
Then he
realised
that
Yupanqui was shouting
directly
at him.

“Protector! Do you hear me?
Do you realise your duty? You are pledged to protect me
at all costs, even
with your
own
life.
” He reached
down, removed the crown from his dead brother’s brow,
and placed it on his own head.

“
Do I have your word
that you will follow me
?”
he
asked
.

Minco did not know what to do
.
H
is mind raced as he tried to
understand
what had just happened.
Through his peripheral vision, he saw
the rest of the
palace
guard
s
draw closer. For the moment
,
all
he
could do was just nod
to
wards
Yupanqui.

The king’s remaining
bodyguards
lowered
their weapons to their side
s
. They
fell
to their knees and bowed their heads
as one, pledging
their
servitude.
They
would
always serve the King
,
whoever
he may be
.

Pizarro
placed his hand
on the new
King
’s
shoulder. “Well done
,
my friend
. Y
ou have
begun
a new
,
wondrous
chapter for your people
.
” He deliberately made eye contact with Minco
,
all but taunting
him with his words
. “
Together
,
we shall rebuild your cities
, and build a more powerful army so that never again shall your enemies threaten you
.”

Minco knew that
Pizarro
was no longer interested in just a couple of ships full of gold. Now
,
he would have the whole empire for himself. He would be able to control
Yupanqui
with ease
.
The king’s weak willed brother would be no more than a marionette whose strings were
dangled
in
Pizarro
’s hands
.
The new king meant nothing.
The true leader of the Inca
ns was now this Spaniard
.

Yupanqui
began
a long
,
droning
speech
to the court
. Minco
already
knew
the plan would be
to rebuild the empire but he
had
not expect
ed
it to be
done
under a new k
ing.
As he looked down at the
abandoned
body of
Atahualpa
,
a
solitary
tear ran down his face
.

A great man and a true friend, Minco’s king had been
left to bleed out on the
stone
floor like a pig. No matter what Yupanqui said
or who he thought
he was
,
Minco knew he could not let this
charade
continue. As everyone listened to the
new k
ing
’s
speech
, Minco drew
his axe. He whispe
red a goodbye to
his
Inguill
,
for
he understood that
once he struck down the k
ing
,
his
personal
guards would
have no choice but to
kill him. He
had already
decided his death would be
worth the cause and that Inguill would have approved
.

Unfortunately,
Pizarro
had been watching his every move
.

“Take him,”
Pizarro
shouted to Yupanqui
and his guards
, pointing
over to Minco. “
Look, h
e has his weapon ready
to strike you
down,
my majesty
.
You
will
never
be able to
trust
him. H
e will never
follow your rule
.
”
Pizarro
drew
hi
s own sword
,
still
shout
ing
a
t
the King. “
Kill him before he can strike
.”

The new King gave his guards the
order.
Minco stood shocked
, listening to the words that would herald his
own
death.
The soldiers themselves were
also taken aback
at this
request
a
nd hesitated for a moment
. Minco was the
ir leader, the
head of all the armies of Cuzco
,
the protector of the people,
and now they were
being told to kill him.

Minco did
no
t give them time to
choose
where their allegiance lay.
He rais
ed his axe and threw it at
the
traitor
Pizarro
with all of his might
. The
sizeable
distance between them gave th
e Spaniard a little time to react
, but he was
still
not quite quick enough.
The
spinning
bronze blade struck him
a glancing blow
o
n the shoulder
. The impact sent
him sprawling
on
the floor.

Yupanqui screamed
at his men in a fit of anger
.
“
Kill him
!
K
ill him now
!
”

But
Minco was already
on the move
and
heading for the door
as
he
shoulder charged
his way
past
the solitary
guard who
’
d been
placed there.
Then
he was out
and running fast i
n
to
the
still
quiet
streets
of his city
.

Yupanqui bent over and checked on
the condition of
his new partner. “Spaniard,”
he said as he pulled the man
around
to have a
good
look at his wounds
. “My friend, are you hurt badly
?”

Pizarro
looked down at the angry
gash
running
across the
length of his deltoid muscle. The
arm
itself was nearly useless
. “
Damn
it
,
I must be getting old,” he
said and
grimaced
with
the
pain
. “A few years ago
,
he’d have never got
ten
that close.” He
took the hand the king offered and hoisted himself to his feet
. “I need to get after
him.” He looked around
the chamber
for his own men.

“There is no need,” the King said. “My guards and some of your men are already
out
on the hunt.” He looked again at the
blood soaked wound
on the Spaniard
. “Please
...leave
it to them.
They will soon catch the traitor
.
For now, I will call the doctor to tend to your arm
.”

Pizarro
nodded
his acquiescence.
“Very well,” he said
, looking
around at their luxurious surroundings
and the gold that adorned it
as if
it was
for the first time
. “We have much to
discuss
anyway
,
my friend
.
There are many things that need to be agreed.
”