Chapter 45 Chapter Forty-Four

It was almost dark when the team members who had seen the Inca King Atahualpa hurried back to the main square of Cajamar's temple.Mr. Governor Francisco Pizarro remained in place.He sat upright on the horse, and it seemed that the hailstorm in the afternoon did not frighten him. As soon as they heard the sound of horseshoes, those who had already returned to their rooms to rest immediately rushed out of the house holding torches.In the dim lighting, there was only a shadow on everyone's face. "The Inca did not want to come back with us, Francisco," said Mr. Ennando at once, "but he accepted your invitation for tomorrow."

The governor nodded to show that he understood, and then he asked: "What does he look like?" "Like a big prince." Su Tuo said. "Like a Moor," said Mr. Enando unhurriedly, "he sat on a little wooden bench while the others stood. His eyes were red and bloodshot, as if he had eaten all his opponents alive. And all Like all the Indians, he was very arrogant." "It's also unattainable..." Su Tuo added, "He knows his identity very well." Mr. Anando complained loudly: "Su Tuo felt that he was unattainable. In fact, it was because the Inca king was not willing to communicate with him before I arrived. He didn't talk much until he learned that I was the governor's brother..."

Su Tuo did not refute, and Mr. Francisco asked suddenly: "How many are there?" "A lot," Mr. Enando sighed and made some comparisons. "Most of the weapons equipped are of a tool nature, such as spears, catapults and big hammers. Nothing lethal!" The governor's eyes shifted to Su Tuo, and finally he said: "Forty thousand, I think. And all trained for war. The needle sticks of those big star hammers do some damage." The Spanish players whispered.They keep repeating the number forty thousand!No one had ever seen such a large army. Brother Wei Shengde walked towards Jia Boye's mount, pulled the horse's rein and asked:

"Did you tell the Inca king that God sent us to find him?" Anando smiled and said sarcastically: "I told him, Brother Wei Shengde, and repeated it several times, but it was a pity that he played the piano to the cow. The Inca king declared to us that the sun is his heavenly father, and the moon god is his mother." Brother Wei Shengde shook his head and made a holy sign. "He's a cultist," Enando continued. "Don't try to convert him with the Bible." "They are no different from other men and women," Jia Boye said loudly, looking at Mr. Francesco's gloomy eyes, hoping to get his support. "Some men like you and me, my lord. And they're safe in their own land."

"You elementary school student, you actually imitated adults and drank their beer!" Mr. Enando laughed. "He was so drunk that he lost his judgment!" It's a pity that no one took his jokes seriously.Silence engulfed the joke like a bone-piercing chill.As the night deepened, a strong wind came head-on, sweeping the flames on the torch and making a booming sound. The governor finally reacted, he rode his horse towards the largest building, and whispered something so that others could not hear clearly: "Stop making useless speculations, brother. Jia Boye is right: they are just like you and me. They are brave and smart, and we have to keep that in mind."

The evening wind carried the sound of horns and drums sounding in the distance. The children curled up in the tent, sleepless, both excited and frightened. They whispered to each other, describing the appearance of the foreigners who came and went, saying that they were half-man, half-horse, taller than alpacas, and could not only Leaping over high walls with ease, the soles of silvery feet are still shining. The only king stayed in the bedroom of the square courtyard and ordered that no one should be disturbed.There was no one in the hot spring area, and everything was extraordinarily quiet.

Like other concubines who did not accompany the king to sleep tonight, Annamaya walked backwards out of the dark inner courtyard after saluting.Atahualpa didn't even look at her.The many glasses of chicha, the days of fasting, and the stress of meeting the outsiders seemed to wear him down.His eyes were so red that the eyeballs could not be seen. Anna Maya decided to take a trip to the small temple next to the hot spring area.But just as she crossed the threshold of the inner courtyard, Andi Panla stood in front of her. In the dark, her eyes glowed, and her white teeth looked like animal fangs.Suddenly she reached out and grabbed Anna Maya's wrist.

"Where are you in a hurry to go? To find them?" "Go to them? What nonsense are you talking about?" "Stop lying! I know everything." Anti Panla was aggressive. Anna Maya tried to push her hand away, but Anti Panla grasped it tighter and tighter, almost pinching the gold bracelet on her hand into his flesh. "I noticed the way you looked at them..." "Let me go!" was all Anna Maya said, and she felt like she was about to lose her temper. But Anti Panla, with a look of hatred, instead grabbed her other hand and pushed her forcefully to the corner.

"I knew you were a broom star!" she said sarcastically, "The only king never believed me, this time, he must!" "I don't understand what you're saying," Anamaya muttered. Antti Panla pushed her out of the inner courtyard.Facing the rudeness of the princess, Anna Maya still stood upright and did not fight back.She was full of rage, and her belly was hot, as if she had drunk sulfur water from a hot spring.She had already guessed what she was going to say. "Oh, stop pretending to be the great and noble Kamakenkoya!" laughed Andy Panla. "I noticed the way you looked at that foreigner. Only women know what that means. You look at him as if you saw a man who is eager to throw himself into his arms!"

"Shut up!" Anna Maya yelled. "In the past few years, I have treated you as a friend because the only king has always protected you. But since the last time we met, you have hated me. I knew you would betray us..." "No!" Ana Maya choked up and pushed her away. With a vigorous swing of his arm, Antti Panla slapped her across the face.Anna Maya lost her balance and fell to the ground. She was only a small step away, and her head almost hit the hot spring pool.She choked on the sulfurous vapors that spilled from the pond. "And I know why!" cried the princess.

Just as Anna Maya stood up from the ground, certain images and thoughts appeared in her mind in turn: her mother’s smiling face hovered in the air, whispering her mother’s love for her daughter; the beautiful skin of the old Inca king; Staring at her, the face of the man with the blond hair... "I know too!" She finally couldn't help but yelled out. Antti Panla was taken aback and let go of her hand trembling.A strange smile appeared on Anna Maya's lips, and the expression on her face was extremely calm. There was a certain gleam in her blue eyes, which scared Anti Panla back in a hurry. For the first time, Ana Maya looked at her fake friend with a straight face.She saw through her heart distorted by jealousy and hatred, she saw through her true face. "I know," she repeated, "and I'm not afraid to know the truth. I know my blood, and I know my parentage. I know a foreigner—someone who looks like those people, who is my father." She heard the echo of her own words in the night sky. "What I saw was nothing but phantoms, a sense of touch, what some village children said - a bearded foreigner came from the forest and disappeared in the forest..." "You're just like them. You're just as damned as they are!" "But I also know," Annamaya continued, "that I will always remember what the One and Only King, Vanya Kapac, told me on the night before his death, when he promised to protect me forever." She stopped talking, and looked at Andy Panla's panicked face with disdain. "Do you remember, in Quito, you asked me why I was so ugly? I would not ask you such a question. I know why you are so ugly. I know why the only king would not touch you, why He hates the smell on your body, and why your lower body makes him feel sick..." "You're crazy!" Andy Panla yelled through tears. "From your mouth, I can see through your ulterior motives at a glance, Anti Panla. Under your soft and smooth cheeks, there are hatred and evil hidden. Your eyes reveal a filthy heart." "You are a witch, from hell, ready to destroy us," Antti Panla whimpered, waving his hands like a fire, covering his face. "You are a foreigner and you want to give us to them as you gave yourself to them; you want them to come here on their horses and raze this place to the ground!" While Antti Panla was yelling and cursing, Ana Maya stepped forward and tried to free her hands.The princess hurriedly retreated to the hot spring pool in the cave. "Because of the hate," murmured Annamaya, "of the torrent of hate, of the pathetic lies . . . " "You are not one of us! You wish all of us would die!" Without any hesitation, Anna Maya grabbed Andi Panla's waving hands and held them hard enough to crush them. Antti Panla wailed with wide-eyed eyes.Now there is only fear in her eyes, and the water droplets on her face have long been unclear whether they are sweat, steam from the hot spring, or tears. Ana Maya stepped on strange dance steps, dragging her towards the hot spring in the cave, as if she was about to push her down.The princess strongly resisted, and knelt down on the ground, her pink and smooth thighs were covered with scars from the corners of the stones on the ground, and the wounds were covered with dust and sweat.With the scalding hot spring in front of them, they felt their faces were on fire, and their throats were filled with the smell of sulfur. Pushing the arm of Anti Panla, who was wailing in pain, Anna Maya squatted beside her and pushed her to the railing by the pool. "Is that what you want to do?" Anna Maya whispered into her ear. "Push me into a hot pool? Dump me?" Andy Panla couldn't stop crying. "answer me." Andy Panla nodded. "See clearly!" said Annamaya. She let go of Antti Panla's arm and took off the gold bracelet on her wrist. The bracelet with two snakes was given to her a few years ago, but she scratched herself because of too much force. skin.She flicked the bracelet before her eyes. "Remember this? Once upon a time I was just a timid girl, a girl from the forest, weirdly ugly, and only got to be made fun of. I thought you thought like everyone else... Then, one day, you brought Come to my room with sweet words and a smile, give me this bracelet, you said you will always be my friend. You were so beautiful at the time, I believed you so... yes, me too, I was too Willing to be your friend..." She dropped the bracelet into the water, and heard only a gurgling splash, softer than stones or raindrops.In the blink of an eye, the bracelet was swept away by the scalding water and disappeared at the bottom of the pool covered with mixed red and yellow sulfur. Anna Maya stood up abruptly.The fall of that friendship in her echoed no more than the sound of the disappearance of the jewel. Leaving Andi Panla curled up aside, choking and crying, she waved her sleeves and left, stepping into the night. "Doctor Fang Sike!" Like all Spaniards, the barber and surgeon François Lopez, known as Pan Qiu, also moved all his belongings to a house on the side of the square.Tin basins, scalpels, pliers, hammers, razors, face creams, and herbal ointments were all neatly arranged on a leather case. As soon as he heard Jia Boye calling him, he immediately turned around and smiled. "What's your business, Jia Boye?" "I want you to shave me." The barber looked carefully at Jia Boye's face, while Sai Batian, who came along with him, snickered beside him. "He went mad after seeing the Inca queen!" he asserted. "He wants you to cut his hair by the way." Sai Batian blinked and giggled. The barber shook his head. "Jia Boye! It's getting late, besides, we have to see the governor in an hour..." "So you still have time." "No! Anyway, in short, you have plenty of time tomorrow. You can shave, trim or cut whatever you want!" "This is a wise saying of a brave man." Sai Batian couldn't help laughing. "Why do you suddenly want to cut your beard?" The barber resumed the topic solemnly. "Just like you're good for gloves, you're good for a beard." "To get some air out of your face." "You really think so or are you pretending to be crazy?" "Pan Qiu, tomorrow, I want to see people with a brand new look, so please help me shave off my beard and cut my hair short. After that, I will go to the river to wash off the dirt on my body." "Damn it! In the middle of the night? With 40,000 savages yelling around us?" Pan Qiu quickly ran to find a small glass medicine jar, shook it carefully for a while and said: "Jia Boye, as long as you drink three drops of this sleeping potion, it will surely restore your composure and fall asleep immediately. This is what you should do!" Sai Batian laughed loudly: "You don't understand, barber! Mr. Jia Boye has an appointment with a certain lady tomorrow." Jia Boye glanced at the tall nigger suspiciously. "I know what she looks like, your girlfriend," said the barber, making a gesture of mowing. "We all have dates with her. But I can assure you: she makes fun of our beards and our pungent smell!" "You two stop fighting." Jia Boye said while taking out the razor from the suitcase. He took out the razor, and after trying a few strokes on the palm of his hand with the blade, he pointed the blade at Fang Sike, and ordered him in a low voice, and everyone immediately put away their smiles: "Please shave me, Pancho, or you'll never see what Peru's gold looks like." Anna Maya went straight to the hot spring area barefoot.She will wash away all the filth, all the abuse that has stained her heart, all the violence that has oppressed her. She needs to be reborn. At this moment, she stepped out of the almost scalding hot spring.Under the silvery moonlight, the evening breeze was gentle, and the naked body was emitting white smoke.I can wash away the filth on my body, but I can't wash away the strings of tears rolling down my cheeks.She put on the white Anako again, but did not put on any jewelry.Even though he pulled out the snake-shaped bracelet given by Anti Panla, the bloody mark still remained on his wrist. There, on the other side of town, on the ridge of the royal road leading to Cajamar, on which the Foreign Legion had been snaking like a steel-gray earthworm this morning, it was now a detonated line of fire .It was an image made up of thousands of Indians holding torches who were unwilling to submit to the rule of the Inca king and left with those Mr. Beards.They were all prisoners of war who had been conquered by Atahualpa and who had betrayed him.They have all served as Huaskar's subordinates, and today, in order to avenge the only king, it is the best way to serve foreign troops with full of hatred and weapons. In the dark night, the line of fire was like a stream of gold, flowing from the mountain pass to the city, illuminating the city wall with light. Cajamar is near but far away! "They're all going to die," said a voice from a dark corner. "Guyappa!" The young officer came out of the darkness, naked from chest to ankle except for a pair of thongs.She couldn't help admiring his strong physique, the muscles all over his body were as strong as the turbulence splashing in the mountains. "I heard it all," he said, "I know that woman is cruel, and I know you won't betray, never..." "Thank you, Guappa." "But I also know that you have a soft spot for that foreigner..." She could hear the bitterness in the other party's language. "So I want to tell you that he is dead." Anna Maya closed her eyes, feeling her limbs numb and her waist tingling unbearably. She still remembered the face of the foreigner.She still remembered the look in his eyes, and the scene when he was teetering and nearly fell into her arms. This scene was like a burning pebble tearing apart her internal organs. The foreigner still fascinated her deeply, and it felt like a knife of hope and tenderness had been stabbed in her heart. And now, she was more worried that he would die. "Let go of me, Guyappa," she murmured. "He's dead," the fighter repeated. "Him and all the others." He then disappeared into the night. Ana Maya stood up again, turning her back on Cajamar.She stared at the dark mountains to the west. If Vera Omar hadn't forgotten her, the twin gods should return from that direction. "Come back," she stammered, "come back, Twin God, come back, I beg you, please help me!" Brother Wei Shengde ordered the army to take down all the ceramic figurines and pagan gods placed in the shrines on the wall, and light up the never-ending oil lamps. The hall of golden columns was immediately filled with the atmosphere of a ghost cave. On the front of the hall, there are about ten gates that open to the square, and all the people who cannot enter the hall are crowded around the gates.There are only a few sentries with warning horns left in the whole city.They were stationed in front of the city gates and on top of the pyramids. When the governor climbed onto the small platform made up of a few suitcases temporarily piled up, there was no sound from below.Mr. Anando and several captains were around him. Brother Wei Shengde raised the golden cross inserted on the bamboo pole high, and then faced the direction where the gods gathered and worshiped three times. At this time, everyone also took off their hats, top hats or felt hats to show respect.Then he turned to face Mr. Francisco, held up the cross again, and worshiped again. This time he brought the cross close to the Governor's face, so close that the beard on his face covered the cross completely. All officers and soldiers draw the holy name together. "God rules over everything in heaven and under earth according to his will," said Don Francisco in a high-pitched, lilting voice, "may he and Our Lady blessed by Christ pray for us..." Everyone's expressions were stiff and their eyes were dull.Don Francisco seemed to have a knack for seeing every face.His pupils, though as dark as his beard, were brighter than the torches on the wine urn.He stretched out his gloved hand, pointed to the crowd and said loudly: "Do you think there were forty thousand Indians who blocked us in the prairie? No!" He paused again. "More than that. Perhaps twice. Eighty thousand!" He stopped talking, as if he knew someone would complain, but there was none. "Eighty thousand! One against four hundred! One Spaniard against four hundred Indians! How many were there in Puna? A few hundred! In Tumbes? Not more than that. King Atahualpa has shown us goodwill and many beautiful gifts. He has chosen to receive us in this charming square, but it is all a trap. He wants to annihilate us here. You are all frightened. You are frightened like children facing the night, full of wild thoughts! You are afraid because your faith in God is not strong enough! One against four hundred! Yes, because that is the will of God—it is the will of God, child because he wants to show miracles before those who don't know him. God wants the Indians who live in this golden country to return to his bosom like the people of the world! God said: 'one man against four Hundreds of people, that's what you're dealing with, you Greek Bedo, you Alonso, you Juan, and Benacasa, Menna and all the people present...'" Mr. Francesco's finger pointing directly at people's hearts seemed to have grabbed everyone's throat.Then he raised his voice again and called out: "All officers and soldiers! It is God's will, because he wants to test our faith in him, comrades! God has fulfilled his promise and helped us overcome all difficulties to get here smoothly, because he wants to make us the best to show his great power. Tools! Companions! Brethren! God has chosen us and blessed us because He wants us all to be single-minded, single-minded, courageous, and joyous to display His kingdom!  … Companions, keep your eyes open , please calm your minds! The Indians have entered this grassland, here, 80,000 troops, just because they are afraid of you! Because they are afraid, they deliberately make these unbearable noises, deliberately disturbing our sleep..." He stopped talking, and this time he forced a little smile out of his bushy beard.Then there were three or two laughs.Governor Francisco Pizarro nodded, smiled again, and added calmly: "Tomorrow morning, their king will be here in person. He will enter this square with a whole army of servants, concubines, and some trinkets. I will surely catch him with my own hands, and I will never let him slip away. You wait And lo and behold, then those eighty thousand Indians will be too scared to move. That's what it will be like tomorrow..." A long stream of horns and drums echoed through the earth, on the mountaintops, and in the clouds.The grassland is full of burning braziers.Because the flames are so bright, the entire tent area looks more spectacular at night than it does during the day.The wind had died down, and although the sky was drizzling, the flames danced wildly over the braziers with undiminished enthusiasm. But Anna Maya didn't hear it, she didn't see it. From midnight onwards, she squatted beside the burning coca leaves, preparing everything by herself without anyone's help.She smuggled coca leaves and chicha with her, dodging the crowds and hiding behind the temple. She drank heavily and breathed heavily. Now, she shook her upper body unconsciously and waited quietly. She is alone.Never before, since the day she was arrested by Sikanshara, she has never felt so lonely and lost in this vast world.Ever since the one and only King Wanya Kapac reached out to her, she no longer felt weak and abandoned. Yet she remained confident.Waiting for his coming, waiting for his help, in this unique and terrifying night.May he be able to help her, help this girl whom he has been praying to and receiving help for the past few years. "Oh, please help me, please help me!" It was a pity that the drizzle was falling, which sprinkled thousands of tiny pearls in her hair, and wet the coca leaves, making their ashes cloudy and thick.But what came from the underworld was only bursts of cold silence. Several armed figures wandered the empty streets. Everywhere in the city walls of Cajamar, the fierce noise of the Indians from the grasslands can be heard, even at night, they are never idle, and even the horses can't sleep. They lit thousands of braziers, and those who didn't know thought that all the stars in the sky had fallen onto the grassland. But all the officers and men turned their eyes away from the steppe, because Mr. Francisco ordered: "Don't look, don't listen! Those are illusions. If necessary, cover your ears with the hem of your shirt, and don't worry about anything." The governor personally inspected each regiment and put his hands on the rain-drenched shoulders of the officers and soldiers. "Take care of your longswords," he suggested, "and polish your boots and armor. These things will not only move your joints, but your brains." Whether it is infantry, cavalry or captain, he treats them equally.He asked them how the tortillas were made by the Indian women who arrived at night with the large Taran army.He smiled and asked if their Wu Zang Temple felt much warmer now than the broad bean soup they just drank!He smiled, gently parted the thin lips covered under the beard, pretended to stare at innocent eyes and continued: "Tonight, children, there will be no distinction between us who are high or low, no infantry or cavalry. Our fate is in the hands of God, and those who will join me He who struggles is the master!" While beating the steps with his long sword, he climbed to the top of the pyramid and carefully inspected the fort that was jointly erected by the Greeks, Sai Batian and Jia Boye.He also adjusted the focal length of the shot so that the focus was directly on the center of the street.After a moment's consideration, he ordered: "After daybreak, stop aiming at the street. Aim here, in the middle of the square. Move your battery to a position where you can shoot at the last gate of the high wall in front of the grassland. You, Jia Boye, I need you to come down help me……" Under the flickering light of the torch, he noticed Jia Boye's smooth face after shaved beard.He smiled and said: "Well, that's a good idea! Cleaning up the facade for that great day." He patted Jia Boye on the shoulder, squinted his eyes tenderly and said, while the Greek and Sai Batian beside him laughed and bent over: "Tomorrow we'll show the Indians what you look like. They'll be impressed: they'll think they've seen an angel!" There was suddenly a vast expanse of whiteness in front of my eyes, and a child's voice shouted: "Anna Maya!" Can't see anything.There was a blank, bottomless depth.Everything is soft white, with no peaks or hollows, as if the whole world were covered by a white cloud that came out of nothing. The child's voice cried out again: "Anna Maya!" She felt that she had answered clearly, but she couldn't hear her own voice. "Don't be afraid, don't be sad," said the child's voice. She thought she asked who it was, and the child's voice answered: "I am the one who stays by your side and never leaves you. I am the one who has received your help in this world." She felt that all this was unbelievable, because the person who received her help was an old man who had already returned home.Then the child smiled and said: "I am that person. I return to my childhood as the whole world is getting younger. The time of Maha Phra Sagoti has come. The old age will be overthrown and the new age is still an embryo conceived in the mother's womb .” Anna Maya trembled all over, thinking about the upcoming battle tomorrow.kid said: "The old will be destroyed, the big will be broken, the strong will no longer be strong - this is Pasagutti. All the knots that are tied to the jeep note rope will become one. After that, the other knots will disappear into nothingness in the endless stretches of freedom. The world will once again be united and begin anew. Everything will be different." Anamaya thought: Then we will all die.Those foreigners will kill us.The child said in a very gentle voice: "Some will die, and some will grow. Don't worry about yourself, but take care of my son, who you turned into a snake, for he is the last knot of this age. Take care of mine too. Another son, whom you saved from the snake, for he was the first knot in the knot to come." Anna Maya thought to herself: How could I possibly do this?I'm not even a real Incas!She could feel his touch as the child murmured: "You deserve to be who you are. Don't be afraid, the puma will always be by your side in the years to come." "That speech the Governor gave last night was a marvelous one," said the Greek. "It was a pleasure to hear him say that, but it was a speech after all. Now comes the real drama!" He pointed to the top of the mountain to the west. Although the clouds were like snow, the sky was clear. The three of them were still sitting under the turret on the top of the pyramid, frozen from the cold raindrops.An hour earlier, the din of the Incas' gongs and drums on the steppe had suddenly and miraculously stopped.How did they know the dawn was coming?The smoke ignited by thousands of braziers piled up in the sky above the city, drifting from mountain to mountain, like a cloud of filthy stench as thick as a cloud layer, rushing straight to people's eyes and throats. "One man against four hundred men," repeated the Greek with a wry smile, "you'll know what it's like in a moment." "I hope you can handle it," Sai Batian teased, "It's a pity those guys never attack at night, otherwise I would have the advantage!" Afterwards they paused for a long time without speaking, trying to guess any movement beyond the hot spring area. "Why don't you speak?" the Greek finally couldn't help asking Jia Boye. "Often being afraid makes people want to talk." After Jia Boye glanced at him, he smiled. "I'm afraid, but not the kind of fear you think." He said hoarsely. "So which one, huh?" Jia Boye remained silent, showing a mysterious smile.After the Greek and Sai Batian stopped asking, he looked up at the stars in the sky. "There is a dream behind my dream," he said to himself, "but I don't even know what kind of dream it is."