Chapter 42 Chapter Forty-One

The Inca Hot Springs area is located on a grassland adjacent to the city.After leaving the Royal Mile, strangers often strayed into the marshes, or got lost miserably at the confluence of scalding hot springs and icy rivers. The only king chose this place as his base and set up a military camp here. As far as the eye can see on the grassland, there are all white tents, even extending to the hilly slopes outside the town. The footsteps of the night slowly approached the inner courtyard of the palace where the Inca king rested. Tonight was his third consecutive night of fasting. Annamaya raised her head from time to time and glanced at the mountain pass. Those foreigners were about to climb up the mountain pass, and then walked over the Cajamar's houses and the royal palace from there to the mountain road.Despite the distance, their quick and regular steps are clearly visible.

What do they look like? All she had heard these days were intelligence agents, Sikanshara's contemptuous sneers, and Guayapa's suspicions and complaints; bad deeds, a voracious appetite, and a string of lies... yet she still wishes to see them, to see them carefully, or to try to understand them—thoughts like this are driven not just by curiosity. . "Anamaya?" Antti Panla crossed the courtyard and waved to her from the other side of the central pool, so she stepped forward.The concubine was still frowning. Ever since she lost the favor of the only king, she had been depressed.

"He wants to see you." She said flatly. He was lying in the dark, surrounded by the curling smoke of burning spices, and even the humid air had a thick smell.Anna Maya bowed her head and walked forward. "Raise your head," he said lazily, "look at me..." She hesitated.She hadn't heard such a friendly order for a long time, and this intimate way of communication between the two in the past was already a memory. "Keep your head up," said Atahualpa, almost annoyed, "it's just the two of us here!" "If you want me to, the only king."

"Yes, I want you to! Come to me," he went on, softer than before, "don't hesitate." She walked forward cautiously, trying her best to avoid his bloodshot eyes. "Since you are the only king, then..." "Thank you!" "You have thanked me, the only king, and everything was created and arranged by Andi, Qila and all the gods in the sky, not by a girl from the forest." He smiled. "Look at this feather, little girl, take it." In his hand he held a Gurejink feather that he had casually plucked from Borla's turban.Anna Maya couldn't help trembling all over.

"Don't be afraid, do as I say..." She held the feather between her two fingers, taking care not to touch the King's hand. "It's light, isn't it?" Anna Maya nodded.Lying in her palm, the brightly colored feather is so light it feels weightless. "It's very light, little girl, but it weighs heavily on my forehead, so heavy that it keeps me awake at night..." She didn't answer, but the sincerity and worry in his tone moved her inexplicably. "I snatched it from my brother legally, didn't I? And yet, I'll never forget some of the noises buzzing behind me, even the falling of stones on the battlefield of Cuzco. I can't even forget the falling voices, they said: I have not been formally nominated."

"But that's what you get with your guts." "That's because I obeyed your prophecy, and it's because you once turned me into a snake, didn't you?" He laughed loudly, with a bit of bitter helplessness in his smile. "I never told you why my father didn't want to pass the throne to me?" "Because your mother..." "...not aristocrats, people still say so. But, I know it, I know it—" He stopped abruptly, sighed, and then went on: "The year after I passed the Valaci Valley test, my father, the Inca king Wanya Capac, sent me to lead an army to attack a rebellious tribe and ask them to submit to his rule. I failed, and finally If my father hadn't arrived in time, I'm afraid the defeat would have been terrible..."

"Is it against the Canari Indians who live near Lake Yagurgo?" He looked at her in surprise. "You even know about this?" She doesn't speak.She remembered the night when the dwarf had first slipped into her room and confided her secrets to her... She couldn't help thinking of the only friend she had ever known during that lonely time.is he still aliveOr has passed away? Atahualpa continued to stare at her, trying to read the secret in her heart from her silent eyes.After that, he waved his hand helplessly. "Anyway, it doesn't matter. I still remember, little girl, that I was careless and carried away... I still remember how I stood alone in the wind when thousands of outstanding soldiers were killed because of my wrong judgment , in the face of failure, until the limbs are stiff. In particular, I still remember how ashamed I was when I faced my father's eyes..."

There was a commotion from behind the curtain that screened them off from guards, servants, and concubines. "Until now, that look is still staring at me, and comes to pester me every night." Atahualpa said in a trance. "The one and only king!" shouted one of the guards. "What's up?" "The leader of Cajamar asks to see you." "I don't want to see him right now." "We have told him, my lord, but he insists on seeing you." Atahualpa still looked lazily at Anna Maya. "This imperial feather," he said, "is so light and yet so heavy..."

The chief came forward, carrying a large stone on his back, and first apologized to the king, asking him to forgive him for coming uninvited.Atahualpa waved him to shut up. "Tell me what's the matter," he said. "The only king, there is still a day's journey away, and those foreigners will arrive in the city." "I'm going to—" said Atahualpa firmly, "to show them how good I am..." "Then order me!" "I want them to see that when they enter the city, the city has been ransacked and there is not a single grass left. I want to see their frightened expressions, and see their hearts full of doubts, but they are puzzled."

"When do you start doing it?" The Inca king opened his mouth and roared: "The moment you said they were coming, you brainless chief! They're coming tomorrow, aren't they? Well, it's time to do it tonight." "Tonight!" the chief repeated his words. In the dead of night, Atahualpa ordered her to lie down beside him.At first, she worried that he would mistake her for another concubine.In fact, he just wanted to talk to her. He had a calm attitude, trusted her very much, and spoke in a voice that sounded like a gurgling brook, and it was hard for her to believe that he was the one who was furious just now. The man who ordered the massacre of Cuzco...

During the whole conversation, he paused three times in total, and only heard his slight breathing in the darkness, and these three times she thought he was asleep.But just when she wanted to get up and leave for the first time, she heard him say calmly: "Stay, don't leave me alone." There was extreme anxiety in his tone, and such a sad pleading made her heart ache. She told him that she regretted that she could no longer help him as before, because she could no longer hear or see the oracle from the other world.He gently begged her to stop talking. "As long as you are willing to stay by my side," he said, "that's enough, a girl with lake-like blue eyes, I like you naturally." Before dawn, he left her alone in bed while he knelt before her like a prayer.He didn't reach out to touch her or touch her, but put his whole face close to her body, like an animal sniffing its prey, circled from head to toe, as if in her pure white Anako, snake-shaped Find a secret in bracelets, long legs or a slim waist... She kept her body still as much as possible, enduring his fluctuating breath.After he had searched her body, the Inca moved his face to hers. "Your eyes," he murmured, "your eyes..." She closed her eyes and felt the Inca's gentle touch slide from her lips to her eyelids like the wings of a butterfly. When she opened her eyes again, he had already disappeared.