Chapter 31 Chapter Thirty
On one side of the road stood a stone wall as high as a blockhouse.
Ana Maya stomped her steps so as not to startle the little girl who was holding her hand.
When she encountered a fault between the rocks, she did not hesitate. She picked up the little girl and walked through the cracks between the rocks together.Before walking to the other end, she only looked back once, and in front of her was no longer a narrow mountain road, but a terrifying bottomless abyss, and the holy city at the foot of the mountain became extremely small.
Now all I can see is the blue sky, a big bird is flying in the blue sky, and a small black spot hanging between the sea of clouds and the high mountains is a light in the sky.
The mountain was just above her head, like a feather falling in the air, fluttering in the wind.
There was a blank space under her feet, and a blank space on the top. She could hardly see the earth, and could hardly feel the existence of air and sky. Except for this little hand in her hand, she seemed to have no sense of the world anymore.
Before climbing to the top of the mountain, there was a narrow area separating them from the sky, and in front of them was an altar carved in an ancient tomb.In the distance, above the clouds, is the snow-capped Salkantai Mountain all year round.The sea of clouds is looming, like thin wool ribbons floating in the air and swaying in the wind.In an instant, the sky turned from bright to dark.
Anamaya sat with the little girl on her lap.She held her hand, shaking it from side to side, oblivious to myself.Children not only chewed coca leaves with them, but also drank chicha with them, not caring about being offered as offerings.On several occasions, Ana Maya felt her fingertips touch the head of a snake on her gold bracelet and couldn't put it down.
As long as they stand up or take a few steps, they will fly up like the wings of a vulture, and then fall into the rough and rolling river below the narrow valley.
In front of the ancient tomb, bearers lit a fire and placed the first batch of offerings: corn, quinoa, coca leaves...
Then there's the alpaca.
Then there was the little girl.
Anna Maya was no longer afraid, and she no longer resisted in her heart.
What she submits is not Vera Omar, but the entire universe, the mountains, the sea of clouds, the sun and the ghosts.
She looked around at the surrounding scenery, turned herself into a bird, rushed up to the clouds, turned the clouds and rained, and then flew down to the houses in the holy city. Looking down from the high mountains, they were like small stones and gravel.She whispered a song in the little girl's ear to hypnotize her.
The mist condensed into a cloud of cold air, which accumulated thicker and thicker, and then floated down the valley, slowly covering the entire holy city.The gray-blue sky turned almost white.After the big bird left, only the sound of Xiao Xiao was left behind.
She saw the puma.
Its tall shadow crept into Wanya Bhikkhu, the mountain that overlooked the city and protected the holy city with its youthful energy.The two rocks on the mountain are its eyes, and the slit in the fault is its mouth; its ears are erected, as if ready to run forward, and its claws penetrate deep into the sea of clouds.
Anna Maya smiles: because that puma is her friend.
"Don't be afraid," she whispered to the little girl against the wind, "don't be afraid, look at that puma..."
Alpaca blood was collected in some golden sacristy.The High Priest and the Wise Men faced them.
They got up from the ground, and Ana Maya put her hands on the child's shoulders, and from that moment on, the child's body became a part of her own.
"Now!" Vera Omar said.
When Ana Maya opened her arms, a thunderclap rolled across the sky from the horizon.
It's a big vulture.A bird of power and death, its high-pitched cry resounding through the sky, just flew over their heads.
It was dark.
The High Priest stretched out a hand, the silver Tumi saber gleaming in gold.
"I am Vanya Capac," Ana Maya said in a firm tone, "I am the Inca king who rules the Foursquare Empire."
"I can see what you see, but you can't see me. I see the sun go down, the moon go down, I see the tornado sweeping the earth and the sky."
"I see the world of chaos, I see blood without sacrifice, I see the universe reversed, I see armies rolling like pebbles along the turbulence, I see brothers fight against each other, father and son turn against each other, I hear the wailing of women killed and raped .”
"I shed tears of genuine pain."
Anna Maya felt pain in her chest and shortness of breath.She didn't dare to raise her eyes to look at the big vulture. Suddenly, a mist appeared in front of her eyes, covering the high priest, the wise man and the little girl. In her eyes, they were just shadows.It was she who was speaking, but it wasn't her.
"I have seen men slander each other for their greed, I have seen hunger destroy their bodies and minds, I have seen springs dry up, and all paths to darkness and light are broken."
"I see only pain going down the stairs to the center of the earth."
"Afterwards I saw my twin brother, my sun brother, fleeing and hiding behind the darkness. After a long time, the light came back and announced to the world the next Pashaguti."
She was silent.
She didn't see the sacrificial knife falling from the hand of the high priest, she didn't see Vera Omar's melancholy eyes and the terrified expressions of the bearers.
She did not hear that the vulture had already flown away.
When the sun reappeared and scorched her neck, she shook her head and woke up from the hallucination.
"Anamaya girl," said the wise man, "girl with lake-like eyes, I don't know what you mean, but I believe you..."
"Even I don't know."
"Because of this, I believe you. Now you understand why your resistance is useless?"
Anna Maya agreed, but couldn't help muttering:
"You don't dedicate your children to—"
"Don't be too arrogant, don't think it's all because of you, those instructions come from..."
"I know, Vera Omar."
The accompanying servants still carried the warm body of the alpaca on their shoulders.The mist slowly lifted, and they saw the holy city shining again in a jewel box of emerald green.
She slowed down, walked down the narrow ridge, then down the steep stone steps, and then passed the pile of rocks...
During this time she slowly saw the Holy City, its walls and thatched roofs becoming more and more distinct.
During this time, she thought that the whole world was going to be destroyed by war.In the words of Vera Omar and Vanya Kapac, whether opinion or voice, it is all about blood, death and destruction.
During this time, she asked herself what the mountain lion that had appeared before her, perched atop the mountain, was trying to express to her.
During this time, she knew that she was holding the little girl's hand, and she felt a silent happiness that could not be expressed or shared, beating her chest like a second heart.
Notes:
Notes: