The Light of Machu Picchu

by [Incas 03] The Light of Machu Picchu (retail) (epub)

  ‘What have you done with Curi Ocllo, your sister? Do you want to kill her too? She loves you almost as much as she loves Manco, but your contempt blinds you to it.’

  Guaypar waved his hand through the air as though sweeping away Anamaya’s reproach, but he didn’t have time to reply. Guffaws rose up outside, and they could hear the sounds of steel clattering and of Spanish boots stamping on the flagstones.

  ‘Why, I find you already at your task, Lord Guaypar!’

  Anamaya immediately recognized Gonzalo’s voice, long blond hair, and fine features. The years had inflicted on his handsome face only a few crow’s feet around the eyes, while the turn of his mouth had perhaps grown more severe. When Gonzalo Pizarro sniggered, she noticed that he was also missing a tooth from one side of his jaw. He looked at her with the pride of a hunter regarding his prey, vanquished at last.

  A dozen Spaniards milled about behind him, each wearing metal helmets and high-legged boots, and with their breeches dirty from their trek through the jungle. Each man rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. The little room filled up very quickly. Sensing that all gazes were fixed on her, Anamaya forced herself to keep her expression impassive, even though the Spaniards’ boots were level with her face.

  ‘Allow me to congratulate you, Lord Guaypar,’ continued Gonzalo in the same cheerful tone. ‘You’ve done an excellent job. I had imagined that it would prove far harder to flush this precious princess out of this godforsaken jungle.’

  Guaypar’s expression was set firm now, and he showed no reaction to the Spaniard’s unctuous words. Gonzalo leaned forward, took Anamaya’s chin between his gloved fingers, and tilted up her face brutally.

  ‘I see that you cannot hide your joy at seeing me again, my lovely princess!’

  Anamaya said nothing. But she didn’t show a trace of fear when she stared directly into the Governor’s brother’s eyes – stared with such intensity that Gonzalo was taken aback. He looked away, uttering a nervous snigger as he did so.

  ‘She’s always been like this,’ he explained to his companions as he puffed out his chest like a male peacock displaying its tail feathers. ‘Provocative and sure of herself. It’s going to be a real pleasure interrogating her. Lord Guaypar, have you asked her where she’s hidden the gold statue yet?’

  A chill ran down Anamaya’s tortured spine. Everything became instantly clear to her: Guaypar and the Strangers were looking for the Sacred Double. They hadn’t captured her by accident. She saw her fear confirmed in Guaypar’s hate-filled gaze.

  ‘When Manco is deprived of both you and his Father the Sacred Double,’ he murmured to her in Quechua, ‘he’ll be as helpless as a child.’

  ‘I thought that you had only contempt for my influence over Manco,’ said Anamaya, mockingly.

  ‘What does it matter what I think! Manco is the one who believes in your powers, although they haven’t helped him much up till now. When he hears that we have you, he’ll be terrified. He’ll take it for a sign that the Powerful Ancestors have forsaken him. And then I will finish the fight that we began that night of the huarachiku.’

  ‘Guaypar!’ cried Anamaya. ‘Guaypar, you can’t! Atahualpa called you his brother. Inti’s blood passes through your heart. You are an Inca: you cannot allow the Strangers to desecrate the Sacred Double! You know very well what they’ll do with it: melt it down into ingots that they’ll carry away across the ocean. It will spell the end for our people. Guaypar! If that happens, no Son of the Sun will ever again stand tall in the light of day! Not you, and not anyone else. Kill me, Guaypar, and kill Manco, if that’s your aim. But do not lead the Strangers to the Sacred Double, lest you destroy that from which you yourself were born! I beg of you, Guaypar! I’m not the one asking this of you: the Powerful Ancestors themselves are begging it of you through my mouth—’

  ‘Holà, enough!’ growled Gonzalo, raising his hand as though to catch Anamaya’s words. ‘So much talk, so many words, Lord Guaypar! I’d prefer it if they were in Spanish. What’s she telling you?’

  ‘I told him that I look forward to dying,’ replied Anamaya before Guaypar had a chance to open his mouth. ‘And that I prefer death to helping you find what you’re looking for.’

  ‘Oh, my pretty little friend,’ Gonzalo retorted, winking at his companions, ‘those are words spoken in ignorance. You cannot imagine how much I’m going to enjoy convincing you to change your mind!’

  ‘Lord Gonzalo,’ interrupted Guaypar slowly in Spanish, ‘let me take care of the Coya Camaquen. I believe I know where the gold statue is. Soon, I’ll lead you there, just as I led you here…’

  ‘Indeed?’

  Gonzalo raised an eyebrow, his expression suddenly suspicious. His face twitched nervously, and he tried to appear defiant as he stated, his voice cracking:

  ‘That is not how I see things, my dear friend. I know that you’ve found your sister here, Manco’s pretty wife. Let her take you to him. I’m sure that you’ll find a way to convince her to do you this little favor! And when you meet with Manco, you can tell him that this one’ – he pointed at Anamaya – ‘is with us, and that I’m… I’m making conversation with her. I’m certain that he’ll pay you close attention.’

  Guaypar shook his head.

  ‘What’s the point of finding Manco if it isn’t to do battle with him?’

  ‘Why, nothing’s preventing you from killing him, if you can, Lord Guaypar,’ chaffed Gonzalo. ‘But didn’t you explain to me that, without this girl, Manco is like a worm lying on a rock heated by the sun?’

  As the Strangers ushered him out of the room, Guaypar looked back at Anamaya. This time, there was less hatred than weariness in his gaze.

  CHAPTER 27

  Vitcos, Machu Pucara, July 1539

  It was late at night.

  A dark-lantern had been placed at Anamaya’s side. She had had nothing to eat or drink since her capture. The pain racking her body hadn’t let up once, and made it so difficult to breathe that she had to put all her effort into doing only that. She had quickly forgotten her hunger and thirst.

  Anamaya forced herself to keep her eyes open despite everything that she was suffering. She wanted Gonzalo to see in them her total indifference to him.

  He had returned alone to the room in which she was being held. He had taken off his doublet and was holding a dagger, and she could barely make out his face by the lantern’s scant light.

  ‘I like you when you’re silent,’ he murmured, fondling his blade. ‘If it takes a while to make you talk, my pleasure will be more intense, and last longer.’

  He sniggered as he straightened up, stepped back out of the light and slid behind her.

  ‘Did you know that Gabriel’s disappeared? He’s gone, he’s flown away… some say that he’s already back in Spain, others that he drowned himself in the lake.’

  Anamaya didn’t flinch. She concentrated all her effort into staying still, denying Gonzalo the pleasure he was seeking. She said nothing, and showed not the slightest emotion.

  ‘I might have taken you as my wife, years ago. I didn’t find you displeasing then. I even spoke about it with my brother Juan. Do you know that your beloved Gabriel led Juan to his death?’

  Gonzalo slipped his blade between Anamaya’s skin and her tunic.

  ‘I loved Juan. Wherever he is now, whether in heaven or hell, I want him to hear your screams when you feel the kiss of my blade.’

  He jerked back his knife and cut through her tunic. It slipped away and left her shoulder and one breast bare. Still she remained absolutely still.

  ‘You’re strong,’ whispered Gonzalo into her neck. ‘But now you’re going to learn that I’m stronger than you.’

  He walked around in front of her again and looked her in the eyes.

  ‘I’m going to do to you what your warriors did to my compañeros. But I’m going to do it my way…’

  He pressed the point of his blade against her shoulder and slid it down to her breasts.

  ‘First,
I’m going to remove some of your skin, here,’ he said in an even voice. ‘First one nipple, and then the other… they say that a woman won’t die from such a cut, but that it’s incredibly painful. Especially if one fills the wound with salt.’

  He smiled. He waited in vain for her to react.

  ‘There’s another technique that I’ve seen: you spread a little gunpowder over the wound, then set a match to it. The advantage of that is that it staunches the bleeding.’

  Anamaya was no longer listening. She let his words buzz around her like the pointless noise that they were. Gonzalo talked on and on, exciting himself with his own litany of tortures. But Anamaya felt an inexplicable serenity fill her heart and soul. Her fear was lifted from her, and even the pain in her back seemed to diminish. Gonzalo vomited an endless stream of words, revealing all his vilest thoughts and desires, yet he remained as impotent as a child who wants to hunt and kill animals that exist only in his imagination.

  ‘But before I indulge myself in any of these pleasures,’ said Gonzalo, picking up the lantern and standing tall, ‘I’m going to let my dear companions enjoy you. You will give them your pretty body before I whittle it away. I’m sure that at least twenty of them will find you to their taste before your vagina becomes worn beyond use.’

  With a smug laugh, he raised the door hanging and added: ‘Of course, princess, you can avoid all these troubles. All you have to do is lead us to the gold statue. You have my word that once we have the statue, you’ll interest me no more than does my horse’s shit. So, what do you say?’

  Anamaya hadn’t said a word since he had come in with his taunts and threats. With all the refinement of a princess, and with a drop of sweat pearling above her lip, she said:

  ‘No.’

  * * *

  Anamaya woke and realized that she had dozed off.

  She could hear a sound through the complete darkness of her prison: it sounded like something moving through the bushes.

  Her arms and legs were so numb that she could no longer feel them. But she could still feel the sharp, needling pain in her back and shoulders.

  The rustling grew louder. It stopped suddenly, then began again, slowly.

  And then a few clumps of ichu fell on her, and she understood. What good fortune that the roof was made of ichu and not of those new tiles of which Katari was so proud.

  ‘I’m over here!’ she whispered. ‘Over here! I’m the Coya Camaquen…’

  Bigger clumps of straw now fell through the darkness. She felt the freshness of the nocturnal breeze caress her naked shoulder. Bound as she was, she couldn’t look up properly, but she nevertheless caught a glimpse of a silhouette through a hole in the roof.

  She grew fearful suddenly. What if it was one of Guaypar’s men?

  She stayed quiet and held her breath as the man jumped, supple as a cat, to the ground.

  Nothing happened for a moment. Silence reigned.

  Why was he staying so obstinately silent?

  Anamaya felt his fingers touch her naked flesh. With one hand he found the ropes binding her while he caressed her neck and temples with the other. She trembled, terrified, about to scream, when he whispered in her ear:

  ‘Anamaya.’

  She almost fainted. Her heart melted, burning through the core of her being like a lava flow.

  ‘O Noble Lords, thus have You willed it!’

  The voice whispered again: ‘Anamaya!’ She felt strong arms wrap themselves around her. She felt an indescribable happiness rise up and explode in her chest.

  ‘Gabriel? Gabriel!’

  ‘Yes, it’s me. Shhh, don’t make a noise – there’s a guard outside.’

  ‘Oh puma, my puma! I knew that I should trust you!’

  ‘Shhh, wait a moment… I’m going to cut these ropes… gently now… those bastards didn’t skimp on the rope…’

  ‘How did you know?’

  ‘Quiet – don’t be impatient.’

  When Anamaya felt the ropes slacken, she tried to kneel and take Gabriel’s face in her hands, but her knees gave way under her. As the blood rushed back into her veins, she felt a prickling sensation in her legs as though they were being pierced by a thousand agave needles and she collapsed into his arms.

  ‘Gently now,’ he repeated, and she could hear the smile in his voice. He kissed her temples and her eyelids as his lips searched for hers.

  But when his hands found the tear in her tunic they clenched convulsively and he said:

  ‘Are you hurt? What did they do to you?’

  ‘Nothing,’ she said, smiling too. ‘All they did was talk. They want the Sacred Double, and they tried to frighten me.’

  ‘Yes, I know. I set out on Gonzalo’s trail as soon as I heard what they intended to do,’ Gabriel explained as he tenderly massaged Anamaya’s stiff muscles. ‘I caught up with them in four days. As I didn’t know where you were, I thought it best to let them lead me to you.’

  ‘It’s been so long,’ breathed Anamaya, taking his face in her hands at last. ‘So long! But I never once believed that we had been separated for ever! And a few days ago, I began feeling your presence near me…’

  Gabriel put a finger to her lips. They heard someone walking outside and remembered the guard. Gabriel held Anamaya tightly in his arms and murmured in her ear:

  ‘I refuse to be apart from you ever again. Ever. Don’t ask me to do it: I’ll refuse.’

  Anamaya, cuddled against his chest, gave a little laugh.

  ‘I won’t ask you,’ she replied. ‘From now on, we shall stay together for ever.’

  And in the ensuing silence, they remained in each other’s arms as though all eternity was concentrated into those few moments and their wish was being fulfilled.

  Then Gabriel pointed at the hole he had cut in the roof and said in a low voice:

  ‘Gonzalo is so sure of himself that he put you in a very inadequate cell. There’s a thick branch hanging over the roof. It leads to a tree beyond the outer wall. We’ll climb down it and be outside the fortress. The dwarf is waiting for us there. He’ll guide us to Manco at the little fort at Machu Pucara.’

  ‘I thought that was where he was.’

  ‘If we walk all night, we can reach Manco’s camp before Gonzalo and his henchmen find out that you’ve escaped.’

  ‘Yes,’ agreed Anamaya, rising slowly to her feet. ‘We must hurry. Curi Ocllo was with me. But Guaypar took her prisoner and Gonzalo wants him to force her to take him to Manco. We must get there before they do.’

  ‘You’re right,’ said Gabriel. ‘There’s not a moment to be lost.’

  Yet he took the time to clasp her to him once again before leading her away.

  * * *

  Emperor Manco wore a gold breastplate over a black and white checkered unku. His elongated gold earpieces dangled over the shoulders of his long vicuña cape. He wore the llautu, the royal fringe, on his forehead, and from his gold-covered, woven-reed helmet rose the three feathers of the curiguingue, marking him as Inti’s son.

  He was standing upright on his battle palanquin, itself supported by ten men. He held his ceremonial spear in his left hand, and his right rested on the pommel of the sword hanging from his waist. It was the most finely worked of all those brought to him by his warriors. His stare was as stony as the peaks of the highest mountains. His lips and eyes were so still that it was impossible to tell if he was breathing or not.

  The officers and troops around him hadn’t seen their Emperor don all his finery like that for many moons. They knew that it meant that something important was going to happen that day.

  At dawn, when the night’s fog was still hanging over the river’s cold waters, Manco had given his generals the unexpected order to muster the men into ranks outside the old fort’s outer walls as if they were on the great ceremonial square, the Aucaypata, at Cuzco. Intrigued, they watched him closely as he stood in front of them, smiled, and said:

  ‘Last night I learned that the Strangers are sending us an i
mportant envoy. I wish to give him the proper reception.’

  And as soon as Inti’s first rays pierced through the jungle canopy, trumpets sounded, announcing the visitor’s arrival.

  The thousands of warriors had formed five ranks, just as they would have done had they been on the Aucaypata. Their lines stretched right into the jungle and bristled with spears, pikes, standards, and long-handled clubs. Behind Manco stood a dozen officers, clustered around arquebuses taken from the Spaniards.

  They all remained absolutely still as Guaypar approached with Curi Ocllo a few paces behind him.

  When they were a hundred paces from Manco, the Coya collapsed to the ground, tears streaming down her face, and shouted loud enough for all to hear:

  ‘Forgive me, my Emperor! Beloved husband, you are the only one whom I love and obey. I beg you, forgive my brother Guaypar. He wishes you no harm!’

  Some of the soldiers saw a smile flicker across Guaypar’s face. But Manco’s officers were already swarming around him. They grabbed him by the arms and, although he resisted with all his strength, forced him to prostrate himself before Manco. A grizzled old general fetched a heavy stone and dropped it on Guaypar’s shoulders, growling:

  ‘Pay homage to your emperor or die, filthy traitor!’

  ‘You’re nothing but a coward, Manco!’ shouted Guaypar in reply. ‘You need your thousands of men to meet me, whereas I come alone.’

  Manco said nothing. He simply looked down upon Guaypar, snarling contemptuously. Two of his officers held the butts of their spears against Guaypar’s neck, forcing him to keep looking down at the ground. Yet he continued to shout:

  ‘You are not your father’s son, Manco, you’re not his match! If it hadn’t been for the Coya Camaquen’s plotting and Villa Oma’s madness, you would never have placed the llautu on your forehead. My brother Atahualpa would never have designated you as his successor…’

  As he continued screaming, Curi Ocllo rushed to him. Her whole body was trembling, and she clenched her silver tupu so tightly that blood trickled from her hands. Terrified, she cried: