Chapter 9 chapter eight

It was a night without Kira's moonlight.The palace of Atahualpa, the one and only king, was shrouded in a bottomless abyss. Everywhere, whether it is a large or small wing, a courtyard or a storage room, there are groans in the night.Only yesterday certain wives, concubines, and maids dreamed of serving foreigners.Everyone complained to the Inca king, saying that he had a heart of stone and was indifferent to others... Now, everything has turned into pain, and no amount of blood can stop the pain. Anna Maya felt hot all over. She stopped in front of the fountain in the inner courtyard and soaked her hands in the clear water.Water droplets flowed across her cheeks, but there was no trace of coolness.

Yin Qi walked towards her and curled up in her arms without saying a word. Anamaya let her do what she wanted, even comforted her.So did she, this little girl from Cuzco, under Manco's protection, weeping for the man who ordered the murder of her mother and brother. Then, slowly and gently, Ana Maya moved away from her.She watched her for a while in the shadows, tears streaming down her small, bird-like cheeks. "You go, now," she murmured softly, "I have something to do..." Yin Qi hid in the dark night. Ana Maya slipped into Atahualpa's large bedroom.I saw a torch lit at the end of the room. Not only was it not lit, but it filled the whole room with an atmosphere that was slowly sinking into another world.

Her foot kicked something and made the sound of iron: it was the iron collar that was still handcuffing the Inca king just now.Gradually, her eyes adapted to the dim light, and she saw the objects used by the Inca king in his lifetime, with the lingering warmth of his touch on them, as well as the lost symbols of power: the mahogany chair Diana, the The low table made of rushes, the overturned chessboard... "You too, you're here too!" A bright light hit her, startling her. "Anti Panla!" The shadow of the young woman emerged from the darkness.Ana Maya took a step back and fell on the Inca chair.

"Don't be afraid..." Was it not the voice of her old friend Antti Panla, whom Annamaya had trusted but who had been deceived by her jealous sweet-talk. "Hold my hand, I beg you." Antti Panla almost begged, but her voice sounded like it came from a distant world.After a moment's hesitation, Ana Maya grabbed the outstretched hand.Although the night was mild and humid, she was still chilled all over. "Every night I feel guilty. Whether I am asleep or awake, my mind is in a trance, and there is no escape. My guilt is like a jeep, with countless knots on it..."

Antti Panla walked away smiling, before the smile turned into a cough that shook her chest. "I was worthless, but I was able to sleep with the Inca king. When we lived together in the Sanctuary of the Virgin in Quito, that was my only wish. I got everything I wanted. After that, no I know why, treachery comes to my dreams more often than the only king, and with betrayal comes vengeance and deceit..." The princess then moved closer to Anna Maya and touched her with her arms and shoulders.Her skin was extremely dry and rough, as if Andy Panla's whole body was about to go to another world.

"You know all of this, these betrayals. I have always been worried that you would expose me, and that I would be thrown out to the soldiers to share like those concubines who were thrown into the cold palace. I, such a delicate me!" Laughter again.Not happy. "My guilt, you know, is not lying, nor is it betraying Atahualpa, secretly being better with Philip than Luoyan... What I regret is you, the girl with blue eyes. I like it more than anyone else You, envy you." Anamaya jumped up again in fright and grabbed her hand.Andy Panla grabbed her tightly until her long nails penetrated into her palm.

"You don't believe me, do you? You doubt me very much? You never believe what comes out of my mouth!" "I believe in you, Antti Panla..." "I hope so! Annamaya, since the day you arrived at the Temple of the Virgin, I have been reminded of that memory all my life. When you first looked at me that day, your strange eyes, so beautiful , so deep, my heart was torn with jealousy right then. You had something I could never have. As time passed, I finally understood that your eyes were, in fact, full of friendship and loyalty. Lifelong Friendship. But my pride and my fear made me deny everything at once. For life... Now, I am going to die. Tonight, I will die with this deep guilt."

"You are my friend," murmured Anna Maya. She was taken aback by what she said.These were not lies, but a feeling from long ago, words that she could send to the lost princess at this very moment. Antti Panla's hands were frozen.She felt that she seemed less cold. "You see, it's strange," said Antti Panla at last, in a softer voice than before. "Now I'm not afraid anymore." Two young girls embrace each other in what has become a prison.Anna Maya felt that Antti Panla's breathing became much smoother, and her body became relaxed and powerful again.

"I want your help, now." asked the once-beautiful princess. "Good!" said Anna Maya. Pizarro was bald, and a black belt was tied on the arm of the black dress. He held up the silver wine glass and said to Jia Boye who had just entered the door: "Do you know what I'm drinking?" Jia Boye didn't answer.He had lost all his anger when he was around Anna Maya, but every time he took a step closer to the governor, he became more and more angry. "Thank you, I'm not thirsty." He said coldly. "Try it, kid." The Governor's tone was undeniable.Jia Boye took the cup that was handed to him, licked it with his lips, but immediately spit out the juice.Francisco looked indifferent, picked up the cup again and said:

"It's vinegar! I've had it for a week, and so has that one-eyed Almagro and the others!" "Mr. Francesco, if you think this can...Suto!" Su Tuo strode in, wearing a hat on his head, followed by several people.The captain's face was dark because he hadn't slept for several days.His eyes were tired, and his beard, as dusty as his clothes, had grown all over his face.Before he opened his mouth, Jia Boye knew what he was going to say. "No, no, Mr. Francisco! Not a single Indian soldier, no army, no regiment. Within a hundred miles to the south, I tell you, 'No!' The road is empty, like my The backs of the hands were bare, there was no Inca army at all, and the only weapons we saw along the way were stone shovels used by the farmers! The result was: 'No!' What nonsense!"

The governor sighed, lowered his eyes, and swirled the vinegar in his glass. "I made a mistake!" Su Tuo turned to face Jia Boye, exhaustion made his voice sound more difficult: "What's going on? I heard the Inca is dead? As I was walking through town, I heard horrific-sounding wailing everywhere." Jia Boye trembled all over.He felt pain in the muscles all over his body, as if he had been riding a horse for a few days. "Hanging," he murmured. "Hanging? Without trial?" "There is a trial." "But I was still on the road!" The captain's lips trembled.He stopped talking.He got it all. "So, Yalemagro is the culprit." He lowered his head, and after a pause, shook his head as if trying to get rid of a nasty fly. "Governor," he said again, with a slow and serious tone, "the existence of the Inca king does prevent us from exploring Cuzco, but besides hanging him, there should be other solutions, right? My respect to the Indian king I regret the death of you, it would be unwise for you and for us." "There are still some things you haven't seen." Jia Boye thought to himself, the image of the iron chain lingering in his mind. After staring at each other for a while, Pizarro and Su Tuo filled the glass with vinegar again.He licked it with his lips without even frowning. "I also regret it, Mr. Su Tuo." The Governor's voice is solemn and sad, awe-inspiring.Su Tuo looked at him quietly, looking for his eyes, waiting for him to speak again.But he didn't say another word.So he put his hat back on, and walked away from his attendants. "Tell me," Mr. Francisco asked Jia Boye, "tell me how he died." They went to a small wing room in the harem, surrounded by all kinds of "wengu" with strange weaves, special materials and rare colors.These are the costumes worn by the only kings of all ages. There was no agave rope in the storage room, so Antti Panla stole a leather bridle that the Spaniards used to tie their horses.She smiled and handed it to Anna Maya: "The only king, Atahualpa, died under such ropes." Anna Maya's hands went around Anti Panla's neck, and then deftly tied a strong knot on the rope.The rope looked like a pretty necklace against her delicate, honey-brown skin that men drool over. She looks at the princess.Anti Panla nodded slightly. "If the rope snaps," she said, "I will fall into the Inca king's clothes, and I can imagine that I am the concubine with whom he spent his last night." After stacking the two chairs on top of each other, she climbed carefully up the wobbly hill.She deftly hung the ropes from the backbone of the delicate beams that supported the thatched roof. "Leave me alone now." Anna Maya left without looking back. When she walked to the inner courtyard, she heard a loud sound of a wooden chair being overturned. It was the only sound Antti Panla made on his way to Hellworld. Anna Maya did not slow down, she walked to the edge of the gurgling pool and drank a little water. That night, in the palace of Atahualpa, in the squares of Cajamar, and in the Sanctuary of the Virgin, dozens of women committed suicide following in the footsteps of the Inca king. According to the rules of punishment, they lit a small firewood anyway.Several flames licked the hem of the long-dead Inca king's clothes, scorching his skin and hair so that it could be said later that he had been burned to death. When Jia Boye left the governor's residence, the air in Cajamar still lingered with the stench of this symbolic burning.The smell in the valley is choking enough, but there are suffocating wailing and moaning. In the center of the square still stands the stake on which the hanging was carried out.Atahualpa, who was stripped naked, was like an Indian Jesus who died heroically at night with the wailing of the whole tribe.The pain caused by his death did not cease.Such pain is like a slow-moving arrow, shooting into the deepest part of people's hearts, wounding them, and killing them. Jia Boye put his chin back and walked through the crowd. Almost all the faces he saw were expressionless and full of tears.Several times, during the night, the Spaniards were driven mad and tried to clear the square, but it was impossible.For all the Indians, male and female, lay dead on the dusty ground, willingly endured the kicks of boots and the thrusts of spears, and put aside all fear and pain, and some even let them trample and horses trod Overhead. In the distance, from the hills around the city, and even farther, from the farther and higher mountains, from the beating heart of the Quartet Empire, there came a deafening blast of trumpets, drums, turbulence, and storms. The sound of thunder.In the sky, the stars move slowly in the eternal galaxy. The agony of the Inca gods came through the night. Walking in front of the firewood, Jia Boye made a move that he had never done to anyone so far.He fell on his knees, clasped his hands, and knelt in silence before Atahualpa's body.When he was imprisoned in the religious court, he had vowed never to pray again in his life, but now he found the words to pray easily, and the level of piety surprised even himself. "I knew you would come..." It wasn't someone whispering in his ear, he recognized the voice and tone immediately, but didn't look back.His heart beat faster, and he closed his eyes, guessing that his beloved was coming. "I tried everything I could to hope they wouldn't kill him," he murmured. The stench drifted away, and he smelled her body fragrance again.She stood very close and put her arms around him, one hand gently pressing his mouth. "I know." "I have evidence. Su Tuo is back... Now the governor finally believes it. But it's useless, it's too late." Anna Maya hugged him tenderly, her slightly trembling chest pressed against Jia Boye's arm. "No. It's not too early and it's not too late. It's all right, I told you. The one and only king is where he should be. You've done your best. You're like one of our people A hero, like a warrior among stone soldiers..." "Stone?" She nodded calmly and serenely. They stayed together all night, breathing together.Fear surrounded them, and he squirmed a little, feeling his limbs tense as Annamaya's slender, nimble fingertips dug into his shirt.Her fingers followed the outline of the cougar on his shoulder. "There are some things you must know," she whispered in his ear, "I only saw this mark on your shoulder clearly in the first night..." Her touch was so sweet, a warmth flowed through his body. "I remember……" "Its shape is like an animal on the high mountain in my hometown, a strong and beautiful animal that we worship, because it has the strength and will of our ancestors." "A cougar?" "Yes, the great American Lion King. One night, many years ago, when I was a timid little girl, Atahualpa's father, the Inca Vanya Capac, I called to him. He told me something about the past and future of the Empire..." Anna Maya's voice was extremely gentle, as soft as her hands and mouth.Jia Boye let her seduce him, and listened calmly to her story about how to become the wife of the great king's mummy twin brother, Kamakenkeya.Tells how she was with him, lost him, and then found him again in the mysterious stone labyrinth of Huaka. "It was there, in the dark terror, that I first saw you. You were the cougar with the bright eyes, the cougar with the sharp claws that went across the hills... I wondered if you were going to take me After eating... I heard Vanya Capac's voice and he said to me: Trust that cougar..." Jia Boye was not sure if he fully understood what Anna Maya said.The words flew through his mind for a moment like a flock of birds at night, and then returned to his dream. "When you appeared in front of me, when I saw the puma on your shoulder, I knew you were coming for me. Where you came from, you will return to..." She looked up at Atahualpa's body. "Everyone has a life in this world, but there are other lives, in other places, in several different worlds... We travel from this world to the hell world, and from the hell world to the most beautiful and happiest Paradise world... and then return to the origin, non-stop reincarnation..." "You too? Ana Maya, you also made such a... trip?" She didn't answer. She turned her blue eyes to look at him, and her smile made her eyes bigger, her lake-colored eyes, her blue-sky eyes, her night-like eyes, and he jumped in with peace of mind, swimming To a journey he knew there was no turning back.