“Watch out!” Matt warned.
A second bird had dived down, aiming for Richard. The journalist dropped to one knee and its claws missed his head by centimetres. Its huge wings beat at the air, making the flame dance. Like the other bird, it stank of death and decay.
“The jeep!” Richard shouted.
A third condor swooped out of the sky. Then a fourth and a fifth. Suddenly the entire sky seemed to be filled with shrieking, savage creatures. Atoc shouted. One of the condors had landed on his shoulder. Matt stared in horror as it twisted round and began to attack Atoc’s neck, ripping skin and flesh with its beak. Atoc tried to beat it off but it refused to let go. Blood was pouring from his neck and down his shirt. Matt ran forward. He had picked up a spade and with all his strength he swung it, slamming the metal end into the bird, barely centimetres away from Atoc’s head. He felt the jolt as the spade came into contact with flesh and bone. The bird was smashed to the ground, its own neck broken, but still it wouldn’t die. It thrashed around, its wings beating uselessly. Its beak was sticky with Atoc’s blood.
“Matteo!”
It was Pedro who had yelled. Another bird had landed on his back, its claws acting like grappling irons. It was pecking at his head, over and over again, its beak disappearing into his hair. To Matt it seemed as if the boy and the bird had become one. All he could see was Pedro’s arms flailing about, with two gigantic wings spreading from his back.
Richard saved him. With one hand, he ripped the bird off Pedro’s shoulders, then shoved the Primus stove into it with his other. The blue flame touched the feathers and the bird seemed to explode as the fire took it instantly. It screamed again and again. Then it collapsed to the ground, kicked its legs feebly and lay still.
The stove had gone out.
“Are you all right?” Richard shouted.
Pedro touched the back of his head. When his hand came away, there was blood on his fingers.
“We have to get to the jeep…”
Professor Chambers was already there. So far she hadn’t been touched. She fumbled the keys out of her pocket then threw herself into the driving seat. Even as she reached out to close the door, another condor swooped down, aiming for her hand. She slammed the door in its face, pushed the keys into the ignition and turned the engine on.
Richard, Pedro and Matt all had spades. Together they made for the jeep, swinging at the air, keeping close as a group. Matt was supporting Atoc, who seemed dazed, his hand clamped to the wound on his neck. Blood was trickling between his fingers. There was a roar from the engine and the jeep charged towards them and stopped. Matt helped Atoc into the front seat. He saw Richard lash out with his spade. There was a screech and a body thumped into the ground.
Somehow, the three of them managed to get into the back.
“This is impossible!” Professor Chambers cried.
“Just get us out of here!” Richard yelled back. “We can talk about it later.”
The professor slammed her foot onto the accelerator and the jeep’s wheels spun. For a horrible moment, Matt thought they were stuck. But then the tyres found a grip and they were propelled forward, heading towards the highway.
But it wasn’t over yet.
Even as Matt slumped gratefully back, something hammered into the roof of the jeep and the next thing he knew, there was a ripping sound and the head of a condor burst through. At the same time, two more condors swung into the sides, holding on with their claws and tearing through the soft material with their beaks. The jeep zigzagged. Matt and Pedro were thrown left and right. It seemed that Professor Chambers had lost control. But she had seen what was happening and was deliberately wrenching the wheel, trying to throw the birds off.
Richard punched upwards. His fist caught one of the condors in the stomach and at once it was gone, whipped away into the night. Matt felt a sharp pain and cried out. Another condor had managed to get halfway in. It was pecking at his face and had drawn blood on his cheek. A couple of centimetres higher to the left and it would have taken out his eye.
“Can you go any faster?” Richard demanded.
“Not on this surface! I’m going as fast as I can!” the professor shouted.
“We’re not going to make it!” Richard looked up. The roof had been torn through in several places. There were still condors attached to the jeep. He could see them through the gaps. He heard another hideous, unearthly screech and yet another condor burst through. It was inside the jeep – a stinking, flapping ball of bone, feather and claw. It lunged at Matt.
Suddenly there was an explosion, so loud that it was deafening. Pedro jerked back in shock. Matt felt his ears ringing.
It was Atoc. He had one hand clasped over the wound on his neck but in the other he was holding a gun. He had never even mentioned that he had it. Now, when it was almost too late, he had used it, firing at point blank range into the bird’s body. The bullet tore through it. The condor’s beak snapped open, impossibly wide. The light in its eyes went out. Atoc fired five more times, aiming at different points of the roof. The other condors fell away.
And then they hit the highway. Matt felt the tyres bump onto the asphalt and a moment later they had picked up speed. He looked back. A few condors were still circling but they were already far behind.
“I… sorry,” Atoc said. “I leave gun in jeep.”
“Are you OK?” Richard asked.
Atoc nodded. “Not hurt too bad.”
“I have bandages at the house,” Professor Chambers said.
The jeep tore down the Pan-American Highway leaving a cloud of dust in its wake. The last condors watched it disappear, then wheeled back into the darkness from which they’d come.
EVIL STAR
“I’m wrong,” Professor Chambers said. “I don’t understand it. But I’ve checked and double-checked.”
“What do you mean?” Richard asked.
“The stars! That’s what I mean. I was sure I was right. But I’ve looked at them and they simply don’t add up.”
It was eleven o’clock the following morning and they were sitting in the garden, where Matt, Pedro and Richard had just finished a late breakfast. All three of them felt a little guilty, knowing that the professor had worked all night – but she didn’t seem even slightly tired. Atoc was in his room, still resting. A local doctor had stitched up the wound in his neck and given him a tetanus shot and some penicillin. He was still in pain but he was going to be all right. Pedro had been luckier. The skull is the toughest part of the human body and it had protected him from the condor’s attack. He was missing a few bits of hair and he, too, had been given an anti-tetanus jab, but he was otherwise fine.
Matt had spoken with him the night before, while they slept.
“Where did they come from?” Pedro asked. “The condors…”
“From the Old Ones,” Matt replied. “They must have been guardians. They were protecting the place of Qolqa. I knew there was something wrong, something evil, the moment we arrived.”
“It was cold.”
“Yes. When something bad’s about to happen, I always feel cold.”
“Me too.”
The mainland was getting nearer. Soon they would arrive.
“The old man in Vilcabamba… he said that one of us was going to get killed,” Pedro muttered.
“He said one of us might.”
“Which one?”
“I don’t know.”
