A snort. “Not a great deal, no. I was busy during my school days.”
“I daren’t even ask.”
Brynn then made space for them up front. At first, Drake thought she might be about to start teaching Alicia a little of the local curriculum and settled in for a quiet laugh, but then the teacher pointed out a low dwelling ahead.
“A farmstead. One of three around here. We should check with them.”
Twenty minutes later and they had the bad news. The farmsteads, all three, had been terrorized occasionally by monsters, by beings carrying flickering lights.
Drake forced down the anger and pushed on, heading slightly downhill now as they neared Nuno. Of course they already knew Nuno had been targeted, but a quick talk to the village elders told them another attack had been endured two nights ago. One young man had been carried away.
The morning wore on and the team climbed higher. More farmsteads within the area were visited and more incidents uncovered. The picture that started to form was frightening indeed — a nightly reign of terror spanning at least a year. Monsters and lights. The rare plea for help completely ignored. Kimbiri’s problems magnified again and again.
They paused for lunch in the lee of a hill, shielded by a stand of trees. Drake found a burbling brook and drank his fill. The team chatted idly. He sat back on a white boulder and rubbed his chest — two bruises where arrows had hit the night before. Bruises were normal and never bothered him, but the toll being taken from these mountain folk did.
Mai crouched and drank from the same stream. “It is worse than we thought.”
“Oh aye, I know. The question is — where do we go from here?”
“To know the road ahead, ask those coming back.”
“Is that a proverb?” he asked. “ ’Cause no one’s coming back. Not to these farms and those villages. In fact, I’m thinking we have to do the very opposite.”
Mai sat beside him. “You are right, of course.”
Drake saw that maybe she’d helped him. “All right. Any other inspiring proverbs?”
“Only my favorite.” She smiled into the distance. “Don’t open a shop unless you like to smile.”
He laughed, content with her. Footsteps sounded behind them then and he winced, expecting a boot to the spine from his girlfriend, but it was Brynn that bent down to drink.
“Of course this area is home to all the Inca legends,” she said. “It is Peru and these are the Andes. I know of the one that you speak. The Gold Room of Atahualpa.”
It made sense that the teacher would at least have some knowledge of the local legends. Drake berated himself. “Any clues?”
“As to where it is? As to what happened to it?” Brynn laughed. “They say the Incas threw it into a manmade lake. They say it was secreted in a deep cave. They say it was hidden and forgotten after the Spaniards took control; then lost in an earthquake.” She spread her hands apart. “Earthquakes hit these mountains frequently.”
Drake stared at the ground as if expecting it to shake. “Now bad?”
Brynn rose, tying her hair back. “Most are small,” she said. “Some… are bad.”
He didn’t push her. “What else do you know?”
“I know of the Ransom Room.” Brynn paused as the others started to listen. “Located now in Cajamarca it is the place where Pizarro held and executed Atahualpa and considered where the Inca Empire came to an end. After the Spanish priest, Valverde, failed to interest the Incas in Catholicism, Pizarro attacked. He captured Atahualpa and imprisoned him in that room, destined for execution. Atahualpa bargained for his liberty, offering to fill the room where he was held, and two similar rooms, with gold and silver. In particular, some of the finest pieces the Incas ever made, including an incredible fountain. Pizarro agreed and waited but, like most conquerors, grew tired of months of waiting and executed Atahualpa anyway. The gold, which was already en route, was then lost forever.”
“Do you believe that story?” Hayden asked.
“It’s not a matter of belief. It’s a matter of record. The Ransom Room was real. The deal was real. Atahualpa and Pizarro were real. The gold was chronicled by both the Spaniards and the Incas.” She shrugged. “What is there not to believe?”
“And nobody ever found it?” Kinimaka asked.
“It is said Valverde later found it and went away a rich man. But nobody ever again from that era. Maybe it was lost in an earthquake after all.”
The group headed out, climbing again, nearing one of the larger mountains. Along its flanks a farm lay; and more reports of monsters were heard. Over its slopes and bearing down the other side they neared the furthest village still within reach of Kimbiri — a place called Quillabiri. After Brynn talked to the leaders she reported that the story remained the same — not as frequently here but the pattern did not change. Every farm and village within a day’s distance of the mountain chateau was under fire, and needed protection.
“There’s only one way we’re going to be able to protect them all,” Hayden said as they finally headed back.
“Full on assault of the chateau?” Alicia said.
“I wish. But it’s too remote, isolated and undoubtedly well protected to simply attack. We need a deeper plan.”
“We could do it,” Drake said. “We’ve succeeded in harder ops.”
“Agreed,” Hayden said. “But the odds are way low. And if we fail — who looks out for all these villages?”
Drake bowed his head immediately. It was a damn good job Hayden was thinking everything through. The chateau had been inhabited for over ten years now, the potential source of cannibalism and terror for over twelve months. This Dantanion would have anticipated the obvious.
He walked with the boss. “So what’s the plan?”
“Dahl and Kenzie arrive tomorrow. Let’s talk to them. And back at Kimbiri, we need to come up with something. I don’t know yet.”
Drake nodded toward Smyth and Alicia. “Some would say helicopter gunships blasting that house off the mountain.”
“Yeah, and others recall what Bruno told us back in Cusco. That people are brainwashed into this cult. There could be innocent men and women in there, Drake.”
“Prisoners?” He sighed. “I guess. Well, let’s see what Dahl says. The Mad Swede always shows a huge amount of finesse.”
Hayden’s snort of laughter echoed through the mountains.
CHAPTER TWENTY SIX
They arrived back in Kimbiri way before darkness fell, to a surprise.
Drake led the way up the main street to find a large, hulked figure seated outside a small house, chatting away to villagers, Emilio and Clareta. Drake stopped when he saw the figure, whose back was turned to them.
Blond hair shook as the figure nodded back and forth. To the man’s left a woman sat, hair tied back and a sword at her side.
“Shit,” Alicia said. “Did we just enter the set of Vikings?”
The man turned steadily. “Oh, it’s the chip-buttie boy. We all thought a rogue alpaca had eaten you lot.”
Alicia sent a fearful glance to the edge of town. “Haven’t come across one yet. Just mountain spiders. Ghosts. Cannibals. Kidnapping. A modern day Dracula. The usual stuff. Are alpacas so bad?”
“I heard about this Dantanion.” Dahl nodded.
Drake walked straight up to his friend, unable to keep the smile from his face. “Took your fuckin’ time, wazzock.”
“So many martinis, so little time. So many yachts, so few hours. So many casinos, so—”
“This is Brynn,” Hayden introduced the teacher. “She’ll help with the translation.”
“Ah, good. The hand gestures were starting to feel like a Yorkshireman ordering a hot dog in France.”
Drake knew it had to be an insult, but couldn’t figure it out fast enough. Instead he switched to the tried and trusted: “I got a hand gesture for you.”