Pyramid of the Dead: A Zombie Novel (7 page)

“My f
riends,
” he began in a strong booming voice, “
we
have
come
from far away
,
across the sea
to your lands
to meet
with
you
in peace
. We are explorers and traders and it is
our wish
that
you to
o will
see us as friends so
that
we might trade
our
goods,
share
our
knowledge and learn all we
can about one
an
other.”

Taipi, the High Priest, was the first to answer. His tone was grim enough for all to understand
what
his
pre-conceived
view
s
were
.
“You have nothing of interest to us
,
Spaniard
. Our empire stretches f
a
rther than the eye can
see;
we are far more powerful than you
.
” His eyes
flashed angrily.
“
So t
ell me, w
hat can you
give
us that we don
’
t already have?”

Pizarro
knew
immediately
that
this
holy
man would be an obstacle to
him and he knew he had to impress him
. “We have new
weapons that
we
can
supply
in
great
numbers
to
help
you
to
keep your borders safe
. We
also
h
ave sailing ships so you can travel
to distant lands to
trade your goods
to others
or
even
increase
the size of
your empire. You see, w
hat we
can
offer
you
is power,
high priest,
and
surely you can
agree
that
p
ower
is the ultimate defence
.”

Taipi looked impassive.
“
And w
hat do you want
from us
in return
for these
gifts
?
” he
asked
, his distain
still evident in his features.
“
Tell me, i
f you
have
such
great
power already
,
what do
you expect
to gain
from us?”

Pizarro
felt he
had
no choice but to tell them why
he was here. “
In our society gold and s
ilver
are highly prized
,” he said, pointing
all around,
towards
the
impressively decorated
walls. “
You seem to have
land
s rich with gold
. Le
t us have some of this treasure-
fill
up
one of my ships with
this
gold;
that
is all that I ask
for
in return.”

Taipi laughed
out loud
, a hearty laugh full of mocking disbelief.
Then
it stopped as quickly as it began. He
too
made a sweeping gesture to
all the precious metal
surrounding
them. “This
has
all
been
given to us
for the glory
and adulation
of our
King
and
of
our G
ods
,” he said
, and
as
he
spoke,
his face
grew as harsh as his voice with deep rage
.
“
It cannot be used for an
y other purpose
!
The G
ods themselves p
lace
it
deep
in the
ground, we have to go into the mountains,
and
we
dig it
up
with our hands
. We
mould
it;
shape it
,
to show
them
our love and loyalty.
”

His expression grew sly and the sneer in his voice spread across his face. “
If we give you some gold
,
w
ill you bow before our G
ods and thank them for this gift
from
the
heaven
s
?”

The friar
,
F
ather Vincente de Valverde took
umbrage at this request
. “There is only one
true
God,” he erupt
ed. “
And he is
Our Lord
,
the Almighty
God
.”
With
his
old and
worn B
ible
held
out before him,
he
walked towards the High P
riest. “You are
nothing but
savages. I
f you do
n
o
t
embrace Him and H
is word
,
then you shall all burn in hell!
” He al
l but
shoved the holy book into the priest
’
s face. “You should be
on your knees
,
bowing
in penitence
before G
od!”

“Father
...stop
!”
Pizarro
shouted
at the
foolish
man
to get back
,
but it was
too late.

Taipi grabbed the Bible
from the
friar’s
hand and threw it to the floor.
His long fingers pointed down to the tome as his raised voice filled the room.
“
The
missionary spoke these lies to us before.
We took him in and cured his wounds and in return
,
h
e tried to turn
our people against our G
ods.
” The High Priest thrust
his face
forward until it was within
an inch of the friar
’
s. “
Once we discovered
t
his
act of
treachery
,
we had no choice
but to
end
his life. His
purpose in this world
was to be
come
a sacrifice
to our Gods
,
in one final act of contrition for his transgressions
.”

Valverde lost
what little
self-control
he had
left
and slapped the priest with all his might
, then wrapped his hands around the priest’s throat.
That was
Valverde’s last
mistake
on this earth
.
Within seconds
,
the
Incan
guard
s descended upon the friar, their
long
knives digging
deep into the
man
’s
ample body.
O
ver and over again
, they plunged
in
their
sharp
blades
until he was nothing but a lifeless heap of blood and
dark
cloth
.

In the
midst of
all
the
shock and
commotion,
Pizarro
took
his chance.
From his sleeve
,
his
faithful, secret dagger sprung down
into his hand as
he made his way
over
to the
King
. The royal
guards and even
Minco
were
being
distracted by the
mad
slaughter of the friar
. This
lasted
just long enough
for
Pizarro
to
get a
firm
grip on the Incan
monarch.
The King
yelled
out
in distress,
but it al
so
was
too late
.

“Keep back,”
Pizarro
shouted. “
Get any closer and
I’ll cut his throat from ear to ear.” The
small,
thin blade was pressing
tight
against the
King
’s
jugular;
it wouldn’t take much effort to slice it open. “If I let him go
,
I know
we’
ll be
dead men
in seconds
, so please believe me
when I say
I’ll take him with me
if
it comes to it
.”
Pizarro
saw
the
thick
pool of blood
that was
spreading out from under the friar’s body
in his periphery
.

Minco raised
his arm to halt the palace
guard’s
advance
,
then
moved forward
a pace himself
. “
Don’t be a
fool
,
Spaniard
,” he said
quietly
.
“
You’ll never
get out of
here alive unless you release
our
King
right
now and beg for his forgiveness.”

Pizarro
was
n
o
t listening
to
Minco;
he had plans afoot
. “Almargo,
” he said in a low and urgent voice, “
get
over
her
e now,” he shouted out
.
H
e need not
have bothered. His
right hand man was already
moving to
stand
by
his side.
Pizarro
felt
both grateful and
more than
a little foolish. H
e should have know
n
him
better.
“
Go and f
ind us
somewhere secure
,
old friend. You
need
to find
us a
safe
place
where we can catch our
breath
,
where
we
can
work out what the hell we
’
re going to do next.”

Almargo
did as he was
told;
carefully
inching his way past the fiercely scowling
guards
to search
the
maze of
rooms
adjoining
the main hall.
All save one
led off to other
sections of the castle and
to
potential trouble. The room Almargo found
last
was
near the
rear of the chamber
.
It was
a small
,
private chamber with
only a single
, thin
window
and no other way
in or out.
It was perfect for what
Pizarro
needed to do.