Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (6 page)

“What you would call a missionary came to our lands about ten years ago. He was from your country but had travelled up from the
lands
far to
the
south.
”
Minco refused to
make eye contact as he spoke
, his gaze stuck on the flickering flames
. “
By the time we found him
in the jungle
,
his comp
anions had already
perished and he too was near death. We cared for him
, cured his injuries
and in return
,
he taught some of us your language.”

“Who i
s thi
s man,”
Pizarro
asked
,
both
puzzled
and angry
by the news that
one of his countrymen
had
managed
to
get to
the City of
Cuzco before him
. “
May
I
meet him when we get to the capital
?”

“
His name was
Alfonso de Camorra,” Minco
replied
in a soft voice
, “b
ut
I’m afraid
y
ou
’re
a little
too late. H
e died almost
two years ago.” Without another
word,
the Incan rose
up and left
the
fireside
.

Pizarro
watched him
leave;
suspecting
that
Minco
had
left
before he
was
ask
ed
what
had caused this man’s death
.

*****

The
ir
journey seemed
to be
a
seemingly
never ending
struggle
but
just
a
few
night
s later
, when
they kept
on
marching
, even
well
after
the sun
had
set,
Pizarro
lost
what little
patience
he had left with this
lack of information
and
moved forward to question
the
lead
Incan.

“My men
need to
take some
rest,” he told the stoic man
. “Minco,
please,
we have
got
to stop
now
before they start to collapse
.”

“No
,
Spaniard
,”
Minco
replied
wit
hout breaking his stride
.
“
We
’ll
keep
on
going
until daybreak
.
We
’
re
very
close
now. W
e’ll reach the city of Cuzco by
first
light.”

Pizarro
almost
broke into a
little
smile.
The gold
that
he
had
craved
for years
was close
and the end of their quest was near
.

Minco
was true to his
word.
A
s the sun rose
again
, t
he capital
came into view
just
as they reached the top of a
grassy
hill. The Spaniards
looked down
in
to the
sweeping
valley
before them
in
total
, awed
silence
as the
warm
sun
light
kissed the tops of the
buildings
and the sheer beauty of the place stunned the eye
.

A magnificent
, huge
golden
pyramid towered over
the back
of the
huge
city
,
which was walled on three sides
by
high,
sheer cliffs
.
Tall i
ron gates protected the front of the city along with a high
stonewall
that ran from cliff to cliff
.
Pizarro
was
n
o
t interested in the
slightest with the
fine architecture or the expertly carved statues that
surrounded the larger buildings
.
A
ll he
could see
,
even
from
t
his
far
distance
was the gold
and an avaricious smile
spread across his face
. I
t looked
more than
splendid
to him
.
Gold s
hields the size of
his ship’s
sails hung
high
from a central building
that
clearly
dwarfed
all
th
e others
.
He
could barely
imagine the t
ons of gold and silver
that must have been
used
to
build
this
city.

This is what I’ve
been
working
for
, he thought, t
his is what tha
t damn
ed
trek through the
jungle has
been for.
I can almost feel the gold in my
hands.

It was t
hen
that
his eyes caught
s
omething
that wi
ped
the smile r
ight off
his face.
B
elow
,
a huge
army
ha
d
been
amassed
directly
in front of the city.
There
looked
to
be
more than
five
thousand
men station
ed
down
there.
Their proper formation showed they were warriors-
real
soldiers
-
not
simple
villagers like
those
he
had
faced
back
at
the port of
Puna.
It was plain to see
that it would be a slaughter if he and his men tried to fight their way through
that
.

Minco
silently
appeared next to him.
“
It’s time
,” he said. “
Only ten of you may enter the city wall
s
. You will
also
have to
l
eave
all of
your weapons outside
.
” Minco
pointed down to the heavy gates that guarded the city walls
. “Your fire sticks and
your
swords
will
have to
stay
out
here
. No
one is allowed to carry
weapons
in
side
the city, apart from the P
rotectors and the
High
Priests.”

A b
risk shake of his head
showed
Pizarro
’s
displeasure.
“
Not a chance
in hell
,
Incan
,
” he spluttered. “
Trust me,
I don
’t go anywhere unarmed
, never have and never will
.
”
His hand instinctively
dropped
to his side
and caressed
the hilt of his sword.

“If you
continue to
refuse
my request
I
’
ll
have no
other
option but to
order my men to disarm you,
”
Minco warned. The joy evident on his face told
Pizarro
that nothing would please him more. “It’s
your choice
, Spaniard
. Do you wish to meet
with
my
King
or n
ot?
”

Pizarro
looked
right
into the eyes o
f
the Incan. He
knew
straight away that
he
was
n
o
t
bluffing;
in
fact,
he suspected
that
Minco
even
wanted him to resist
, that he wanted a reason
to
start a
fight. He let out a little sigh.
I
t was
all
true,
and he
had
no other option
if he wanted to get to all that
gold
.

Reluctantly, h
e passed the order
on
to Almargo. T
en
of them
would
be going
down
into the city...
and they were
also
going
u
narmed.
It
was now
the turn of
his
me
n
to show th
eir
displeasure at
such
an
order.
As the small group
removed their weapons
and handed them
over
to the
ir
comrades
they would be leaving behind
,
Pizarro
grudgingly observed
Minco
’s triumphant
smile.

4- Meet
ing
the
King

In a strange
, eerie
silence
,
Pizarro
, Almargo, Father
Valverde and seven
of the best and bravest
soldiers
they had
,
made their way
throu
gh the
ranks of the Incan army
who stood in formation as they passed
. The Spaniards felt exposed and vulnerable
as they walked by
them
unarmed. After what seemed like an age
,
they
finally
arrived at the
impressive iron gates
of the city
. They
waited for a few moments as the
gates
slowly opened before them.

Wordlessly,
they
headed straight
for
the
second largest building
they sa
w
.
It appeared
perfectly square
and
seemed to be nearly eclipsed by t
he
immense
golden
pyram
id
that
stood directly behind it
.

The
curious
eyes of the citizens of
Cuzco bore into the small Spanish contingent
as they made their way
through the narrow
,
stone-floored
streets
. The
roadway
they marched along
was
flanked on both sides by
simple
,
but perfectly kept
,
two-
storey buildings
.
The
masses of
people flanking the streets
never spoke or shouted
at the
strangers but
Pizarro
hear
d occasional mumbling
s
and
a few
whispers
from behind
the
wooden shutters and doors
. He didn’t know what
they were saying
but he imagined it was
s
ome
sort
of
prayers to their false gods.

As th
ey arrived at the beautiful
central
building
,
Pizarro
surmised
that this
was where the
King
must
h
o
ld
his
court
due to its grandeur
. Th
ey
stopped
for a moment to appreciate
the
myriad of
ornate
decorations
hung
high
up
on the external walls.
Two guards swung
the
heavy
guarded
wooden
doors
wide
as a signal it was time to enter
. Once inside, the group
walked along a narrow corridor
laden with statues
of what appeared to be previous kings
,
until they
eventually
entered the
vast
main chamber of the
palace.

With a cold
look in his eyes
and a stern tone in his
voice,
Minco ordere
d the Spaniards
to stay in the middle of the roo
m while he went to inform
the
King
of their arrival
.
A glance at the guards was all they
needed
to know
,
they’d been ordered
to keep a close
eye on these visitors
.

*****

Minco bowed his head
the moment
he entered the throne room,
approaching the throne itself with his gaze respectfully downcast
.
As was customary,
the King was surrounded by
his
many
wives and his
most trusted advisors.

“Prote
ctor, come close,”
said
the King
as he stood up and straighten
ed
his
elegant
robe. “My dear Minco, raise
your eyes and look at me
,
pleas
e
.”
He
sounded pleased
that
the leader of his armies
had returned
to Cuzco
safe and sound
. “N
ow tell me
,
” he asked. “W
hat
you have
found out about these visitors?
”

“
My lord,” Minco began
as his eyes
rose to
me
e
t the
King
’s,
“
As
we suspected
, they are strong and have powerful weapons but they are few in
number. If you give
me
the
command,
we can
easily slay
them all. We can rid them from our lands forever.
”

The K
ing
silenced Minco with an upraised hand.
“Not yet,
my
good
soldier,
” he said. “I too wish
to hear what they
have come to
say.” He
gestured for his entourage to join them and when they assembled,
he returned his gaze to Minco.
“Come,
” he said. “L
et’s go
and meet these Spaniards
.”

As they
neared the entrance,
the King
turned to
Minco and spoke softly
,
“Your time will come
,
dear Minco
. Do
not despair.
I have
n
o
t forgot
ten their misdeeds. You will
have the chance to
repay them for the atrocity they committed
at Puna.”

Minco
dipped his chin gratefully to
his monarch
and smiled
in relief and anticipation
.

*****

In
the main chamber
,
Pizarro
did no
t do as he was told. He
’
d
never
been
any
good at
obeying rules
as a child
,
and a
s an
adult
, he was accustomed to be
ing
the one giving the orders. In
truth
,
h
e
had always
lived his life by his own
rules.
As he
moved about
the hall
studying
his
luxurious
surroundings
, he grew envious
.

The palace guards
were
spread
evenly
around against the perimeter
of the chamber
.
Even t
heir
heavyset
figures could
n
o
t hide the
size and
sheer
beauty of the array of
gold
plaques
that were
adorning
every one of
the
walls.
It was
breath taking
.
He had never seen so much precious metal in all of his life, even
in Madrid
at the court of the Spanish royal family.
Pizarro
dreamed of ripping them
all
down
with his bare hands
and
carry
ing
them home
.
He could
wait
though,
it may be difficult, but he knew
i
t was only a matter of time
before it was all his
.

A long chorus of t
rumpets blared
,
snapping him back to reality
. He watched
closely
as
a
pair of vast
golden
doors
slowly
opened at t
he far end of the hall to reveal
the
King
and his entourage
as they
entered
the main chamber
.
Vibrantly pluming col
oured
feather
headdresses
adorned them all,
but
the
most impressive adornment belonged to the man in the lead. He was also accompanied
on
either side by
a bevy of
beautiful young women.

At last, t
he
King
had arrived.
They
made their way leisurely
along the stone floor,
not
stopping
until they were
a mere
ten feet away from the Spaniards.

Separating themselves from the King’s entourage
,
Minco
,
a man and a woman came forward.

“This is our
god on earth, our supreme leader, our
King
, Atahualpa,” Minco said
,
indicating
the
dignified
man
in the twilight of his
years
that
stayed in the front of the entourage
; he bowed his head slightly
towards him
as he spoke
. “
And t
his
,” he indicated to the man on his right,
“
is Taipi, our Mayta- the High Priest
of our sun God Inti
. This,” Minco continued as he motioned to
wards
the woman on his left, “
is
Inguill
, ou
r Mamaconas- the High Priestess.
”
The priest and priestess
were elegantly
dressed in
nearly
identical
gold
robes that
showed their obvious high standing within the Incan hierarchy
.

Pizarro
and his party
then
took
their
turn
to
bow and curtsy
.
Pizarro
had to
force a
smile through gritted teeth
,
for
he hated bowing to
such
savages.
It made him sick
at
the pit of
his stomach;
in his mind
,
t
hey were the ones who should
have
be
en
bowing
before him,
before
his
glory
.

Interrupting those thoughts
,
Minco continued,
“We three shall interpret for you,
we
can
all speak
in
your tongue,”
he said with something of a sneer in his voice
. “Now s
ay what you
’
ve c
o
me for
and we’ll tell the King
.”

Pizarro
took a step forward
to meet them, showing them his
well-practiced
smile.
He looked at
each
of
them one by one
and noticed while he did
,
the way Minco’s eyes seemed drawn to the
beautiful face of the High Priestess.
Pizarro
filed this information away in his mind and went ahead with his
well-rehearsed
speech.