Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (36 page)

Taking great care to be a
s quiet as he could
,
he rose up the steps
one at a time and
onto the second floor. Glancing a
little
look around the corner he saw about twenty feet ahead were the double doors
leading
to the Spaniards private chambers. Standing outside however were the two guards, and this time both were fully concentrated on their task
in hand
. He would
no
t be able to sneak up on them like
he had done
to the others
before.

He
,
of course
,
knew
that
time was not on his
side;
it would
n
o
t be long before one of the missing guards was discovered. With no other option
s
left,
he grabbed his axe in one hand, his blade in the other and walked around
the corner
to
come
face to
face
with
the two soldiers.

In a
flash,
his axe went flying through the air, spinning around until it reached its target of one of the soldier’s chest. Running on he swung his
other
arm and the blade found the neck of the second
man’s
throat. Minco looked down as both of his victims lay
struggling
on the ground
,
each of them
trying
in vain
to catch a breath as
thick
blood gurgled
up
and poured
out
from their mouths. He did
n
o
t remove his stare until both of them had
finally
stopped moving.

His hand moved
over
to his
own
stomach and he pulled out the
thin
dagger that the second soldier had managed t
o stick in him before he fell. Both t
he pain and blood loss were
severe,
but with the
heavy dose of
wrath
and
vengeance still
flowing through him he was able to
forget them
and
move forward
once more
,
to
wards
the double doors.

He opened them
slowly
to find himself in a large and lavish bedroom and
what
he saw
at the far corner
was a balcony
to the outside
. Sitting on a
large
seat with his back to him was
his target,
the great
Francisco
Pizarro
.

As he made his way over to
him,
the Spaniard spoke
up
without even turning to see who it was.
This caused the Incan to stop his advance.

“My dear
,
Minco,” he said. “I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came
looking
for me.
You were not as quiet as you think, I heard you killing my men outside the door.
” Starting to show his advancing years
through the lack of hard work
he slowly got
himself up
from his golden chair and turned to face his
long-time
nemesis.

“You will pay
dearly
for what you have done,
” Minco said as he showed the Spaniard his bloody blade. “
You will die
here
today but
if
t
ell me where Inguill is
buried
,
then
I promise
you
that your death will be quick and painless.”

Pizarro
saw the blood seeping through the Incans tunic and with no fear
in his face
pointed
down
at the growing red patch
.

“I see
that
you didn’t get it all your own way,
” he said. “
I guess that one of my men
managed to ge
t a little piece of you
too
.”

“You d
on’t
need to
worry about me,” Minco snarled back. “Just worry about how you’re going to die.”

“You should have stayed hiding in the mountains
or wherever you’ve been.
” The Spaniard looked Minco direct in his eyes. “
A
t least that way you could have lived
for
a few more years and your woman would not have
died before you
r eyes
.” He then pointed over to the far corner.

Another of his men was holding I
nguill
tight
around the waist
,
as
he
held a long dagger tight against
her thr
oat. As he tried to take in the
shock
that
somehow
his love was still alive
,
Minco could hear
Pizarro
laugh
ing
.

“I knew
that
she would come in useful
to me
one day
,” the Spaniard said
as he walked over and stood just a couple of feet
away
from Minco
. “
I spread the word throughout the city that I’d killed her, I knew
that
you would try and
find out
her fate
.
You are
as always
,
very predictable my
Incan
friend, I
also
guessed t
hat one day you would
have to
come back for
me.”

He pulled from his belt a pistol and aimed it
right
at the Incans head.
“I’ve waited a long time for this,” he said
with a huge smile now spread
wide
across
his face
. “It seems
that
y
our last sight on this earth will be
to watch
the death of the woman you love.” He nodded
over
to the guard who had
Inguill.

Minco took the only chance he
could;
he threw his axe at the man who was holding her. He only had a small target
to hit
but the glancing blow
to his head
was
just
enough
to work
,
t
he
soldier
fell back
wards
and the blade dropped from his hand
to the floor
. At the
exact
same
time,
Pizarro
fired his
single
shot and that too
hit its
intended
target.

The pain rushed through Minco’s
whole
body. The spinning ball of lead had flown
deep
into his arm and he could feel it burning away under his flesh
and in his bone
.
He cried out in agony as he dropped
down
to his knees. As he looked
up,
he saw
Pizarro
was frantically trying to reload his weapon
, trying to get the
gunpowder
shoved
down the
thin
barrel
.
After a quick glance over to check that Inguill was okay
,
he rose to his feet and lunged at the
old
Spaniard.

His good hand swatted the pistol from
Pizarro
’s grasp and he shoulder charged him to the ground. Before the Spaniard had a chance to get up
,
Minco kicked him swiftly in the head, then stamped down hard on his chest, knocking out all the air from his lungs.

Pizarro
huffed and wheezed as he tried in vain to catch his breath, all he done was cough out some
of his
blood that was draining down his throat from his broken nose. Minco looked down at him
in disgust for a few seconds
before walking over to Inguill.

“I’m sorry,” he said as he lifted her sobbing head. “I
honestly
thought
that
you were dead
, my love
.
” He inspecte
d her throat for any damage caused by
the blade. “Y
ou must realise
that
I’d never have left you
with him
if I’d known you were
still
alive.
”

She looked into his eyes and
tried to
force a little smile. “He kept
on
taunting me,” she muttered. “He said I would be the cause of your death.
”
Her eyes moved over to her captors squirming body. “
Now it seems you will be the bringer of his death.” He took his turn to smile
back
, st
ood up and went back over to his target
.

Minco knelt down beside
s
the
still
struggling
for breath
Spaniard. He took
Pizarro
’s own
gold and
jewel-encrusted
knife from his belt and held it
out
in front of the old soldier’s eyes.
He tilt
ed it gently so the sun caught on the
highly
polished blade.

“It’s time,” Minco said to
Pizarro
as he
dragged him over and propped him up against
the
sidewall
. “I promised
you
that
one day
that
I would get you off my lands.
” He thought back to all the evil
and death that
the Spaniard had caused. “But i
t won’t
however
be
with
you sailing away
in
side one of
your ships
packed with our gold
,
no,
it will be with
me taking
your life.”

He slowly
, very slowly,
drew the blade across the throat of
Pizarro
and watched
with interest
as the life slipped away from his eyes. “Remember the people of Puna,” he whispered in his ear. “
Remember the thousands who died at the hands of the Ukhu Pacha.” Just as
Pizarro
was about to pass out Minco slapped him on the cheek to keep him alert
to his pain
. “And most off all
you bastard
, remember the true
King.”

Minco keep his eyes fixed on
the
once
great
Pizarro
until he was finally dead
and still
. In pain from the wounds to his stomach and
arm,
he struggled back up to his feet and turned
once
again to face his love, Inguill.

“Come on,” Minco call
ed
over
to her. “We need to get out of here
now,
before the rest of his men turn up.
I doubt if I could hold any of them off now.
”

“Not yet,” she called back
as she ran over to the other side of the room
. “I just need to get something
first
.” She threw open a large wooden chest
by his bed
and started to pull some items out. She grabbed hold of a couple of old
tattered
parchments and a
brown
llama skin bag
that was
about the size of her head.