Chapter 20 Chapter Nineteen

The Royal Road is spacious and has a solid brick floor, flanked on either side by a wall of medium height and carefully built.Whenever the builders couldn't find enough bricks, they replaced them with spears of the same height.Every place that goes uphill has a large ladder, and the convoy must be very careful when traveling on it. In front of several granaries, a few messengers went back and forth to inspect every step of preparation around these great fortresses where the Inca kings stored large quantities of grain, cloth, pottery, and all the gold and silver treasures in the area. Powerful local people in various towns tried their best to get close to the palanquin carrying the mummy of King Vanya Kapac.In order to show modesty, they all bowed their bodies and carried a heavy boulder on their shoulders.

Hand gestures of homage to the mummy of the king can be seen everywhere. However, the fatigue of the past few days crushed Anna Maya.After leaving Dumen Bangba, she stopped counting the days, because each stop on the itinerary was similar to the last one for her.A few days ago, she finally decided not to stay in the sedan chair all day, facing the mummy of the king and the statue of the twin brothers alone. She would rather be among the mourning women and the old people, and people would forget her existence. On several occasions, Vera Omar the Wise left her entourage of elders to join her in the procession.From that day on, he treated Anna Maya with courtesy, and sometimes, almost with caution and fear.But today, the female companion beside him has a serious and melancholy expression.Every day there were some hideous rumors circulating in such a long procession.Everyone's faces were tense...the more they left the north, the more frightened everyone became. In fact, there was no special reason, except that the whole team was gradually approaching Cusco.

The only one among them who knew how to laugh at himself was the dwarf.Usually, he always walks at the head of the line, wearing an overlong red robe, and his sweeping skills are as good as the hundreds of tireless servants who are responsible for sweeping the road in front of the sedan chair. But slowly, he retreated closer to Anna Maya, and walked to her side in small steps. "Princess, are you dreaming?" "It's you, prince, it's you who made me dream..." The dwarf smiled.He was well aware of the tender implications of the joke.The secret friendship between them had been dear to him since that night when they had opened their hearts to each other.They were completely different from the other attendants who carried out the funeral for the Inca king. Those who turned their heads to look at them looked disgusted with the desire to put them to death.Tomorrow, for both of them, is also full of variables.

"What problems shall we have, princess?" "how could I know?" "I thought you knew everything!" "You are a joker, Prince! You know what I know. The heralds keep sending news that there has been a massacre in Prince Atahualpa's village. And, it is said, that Huascal is in a fit of rage." The dwarf chuckled and said: "That's because he was too late to see me! It is said that someone was going to give him me as a gift, believing that I would bring him good luck; but others said that he hated anyone who was not as beautiful and healthy as the Incas. , A person with a pointed head and long legs!"

"Me too, I think he's waiting for me." Anna Maya murmured. For the first time, they didn't know how to make fun of each other. Side by side, they walked along the choppy river.The rain washed the yellow mud into the river, and the river rolled and wailed, as if even the earth had been hurt. In the afternoon, a rugged but well-maintained road became wider and wider, leading them to the Himak Toho Plateau.To the north, Anna Maya found a high mountain whose curved arc was like an arrow ready to cross the slopes of two river valleys. As usual, whenever the horns and flutes echoed in the valley, the residents of the local village rushed to greet them, prostrating themselves before several mikoshi shrines.

The imperial treasury here is modest in size, but the great wall that supports Temple Square is majestic.The architectural proportions of the temple are harmonious, the polished stones are precisely set together one by one, and the orientation is just right, just right to welcome and send off the last sunset glow before the sun goes down. The leader of the temple is a man with black eyes, and his eyes are always full of tears. He obviously drank some chicha wine that he didn't need to prepare while presiding over the ceremony.He exaggeratedly groveled and obeyed several elders, and even deliberately knelt down in front of Cora Topak, which made the old crown prince very displeased because of the long journey.

Finally, after evening prayers, someone took them to a palace on a half-slope beside the temple square.The rooms in the palace have been carefully cleaned, covered with beautiful straw mats, exquisite pottery and some new blankets just taken out of the warehouse. However, this night, Anna Maya stayed in the inner courtyard for a long time.At this time, the whimpering river has turned calm.Under the reflection of the sunset, the hillsides surrounding the village look like pieces of protective flower petals.The palace in which they lived faced a deep and narrow valley to the east.When night falls, the canyon is as if shrouded in translucent mist, a vast mist.

When Vera Omain found her not in the house and came to look for her anxiously, she asked him: "Where does this canyon lead to?" The wise man frowned and gave her a suspicious look.Ana Maya turned to face him, surprised at the delay in answering. "I don't know," he finally grunted. Because his tone of voice was not firm enough to conceal the fact that he was lying, Anna Maya felt that she could no longer suppress the anger in her heart. "Wise man! How much time will it take before you are willing to trust me? Haven't I been tested enough?" "I know who you are, little girl," Vera Omar smiled awkwardly. "I know what's going on in your mind right now. It's not like this—"

"Then, why hide from me?" Annamaya said excitedly, "There must be a passage in this canyon, a passage that is not just a passage, why not—" "Little girl!" Vera Omar interrupted her, grabbing her arm. "You know a lot of things, but there's a lot you don't know. Some things are better not to know after all." His soft tone made her restrain her temper.For the fun of it, she thought of throwing a tantrum and continuing to quarrel with him, but suddenly she stopped talking, and the wise man standing beside her was dumbfounded. There, before their eyes, on the central axis of that mysterious valley now surrounded by night, between the dark horizon and the emerging stars, loomed a ball of fire.

It was a pale yellow fireball, like a night sun, only a little bigger than the moon.There is a long tail on the back of the fireball, which looks like hair blown by the wind.But the strangest thing was that it seemed to be flying through the air, faster than the beast, and it seemed to be standing still. Slowly, very slowly, it gradually drifted towards the top of the black bottomless mountain. Annamaya was so frightened that she couldn't help but let out a groan.In a weak voice, she asked quietly: "Sage Vera Omar, tell me what is in front of me..." He turned his head and found that her lips were chattering, her bright eyes dilated due to excessive surprise.

"Is this what you saw the night before we left Dumen Bangba?" Ana Maya nodded and folded her arms across her chest, bending over as her stomach cramped. "Yes! Yes, that fireball...it goes fast! Very fast..." Vera Omar took her hand and squeezed it in his bony palm. "Don't be afraid, Kamakenkoya," he murmured, "relax and think about your travels among that ancient rock, don't be afraid..." She watched the dazzling comet carefully.Perhaps because of the comfort of the wise man, her mood gradually calmed down and she was no longer afraid.Then, suddenly, she understood, and she screamed. The comet, with its brush-shaped tail, is exactly the same shape as the rijink feather on Borra's turban.Then what she saw on Atahualpa's brow was not death, not the fire of destruction!No!The pattern she saw on his forehead was not the same as the totem of the One and Only King.What she saw in the sky tonight should be an order from Andi to his son Atahualpa, the Inca king! "What's wrong?" the wise man asked nervously, "What did you see?" Anna Maya just looked at him, not daring to say anything.She lowered her head and closed her eyes in pain. "What did you see?" the wise man continued. "nothing."