An old man stood crouched in front of me, smiling at me with a toothless grin. He had horrid tufts of grey hair sticking out from his eyebrows, nose and ears.
'Greetings, gold-eater,' said the ancient fellow. 'I have heard of what you did for young Prince Renco—aiding his escape from his cage—and I wanted to express my profound gratitude to you.'
I looked around the citadel. The fires were now out, the people who had previously been huddled about the room were now silent, sleeping. I must have actually fallen asleep, at least for a short time.
'Oh,' said I. 'Well, you.., you are welcome.'
The old man pointed a bony finger at my chest and nodded knowingly. 'Take heed, gold-eater. Renco is not the only one whose destiny lies with that idol, you know.'
“I do not understand.”
'What I mean is Renco's role as guardian of the Spirit of the People comes directly from the mouth of the Oracle at Pachacamac.' The old man smiled that same toothless grin.
'And so does yours.'
I had heard of the Oracle at Pachacimac. She was the venerable old woman who kept watch over the temple-shrine there. The traditional keeper of the Spirit of the People.
'Why?' said I. 'What has the Oracle said of me?'
'Soon after the gold-eaters arrived on our shores, the Oracle announced that our empire would be crushed. But she also foretold that so long as the Spirit of the People stayed out of the hands of our conquerors, our soul would live on.
But she made it very clear that only one man—and one man only—-could keep the idol safe.“
'Renco.'
'Correct. But what she said in full was this:
“There will come a time when he will come,
A man, a hero, beholden of the Mark of the Sun.
He will have the courage to do battle with great lizards,
He will have the jinga,
He will enjoy the aid of bravehearted men,
Men who would give of their lives, in honour of his noble cause,
And he will fall from the sky in order to save our spirit.
He is the Chosen One.”
'The Chosen One?' said I.
“That is right.”
I began to wonder whether I fell into the category of a 'bravehearted man' who would give of his life to help Renco. I decided that I didn't.
Then I mused on the Oracle's use of the word jinga. I recalled that it was a quality most revered in Incan culture.
It was that rare combination of poise, balance and speed - the ability of a man to move like a cat.
I recalled our daring escape from Cuzco and the way Renco had leapt lightly from rooftop to rooftop, and how he had slid down the rope to land on the back of my horse. Did he move with the surefooted grace of a cat? Without a doubt.
'What do you mean when you say he will have the courage to do battle with great lizards?' I inquired.
The old man said, 'When Renco was a boy of thirteen, his mother was taken by an alligator as she was retrieving water from the banks of her local stream. Young Renco was with her at the time, and when he saw the monster drag his mother into the river, he dived into the water after her and wrestled with the ugly beast until it released her from its grip. Not many men would leap into a stream to do battle with such a fearsome creature. Not least a boy of thirteen.'
I swallowed.
I had not known of this tremendous act of courage that Renco had performed as a boy. I knew he was a brave man, but this? Well. I could never do something like that.
The old man must have read my thoughts. He tapped my chest again with his long bony finger.
'Don't dismiss your own brave heart, young gold-eater,' said he. 'You yourself displayed enormous courage when you helped our young prince escape from his Spanish cage. Indeed, some would say that you showed the greatest courage of all—the courage to do what was right.'
I bowed my head in modesty.
The old man leaned close to me. 'I do not believe such acts of courage should go unrewarded either. No, as a reward for your bravery, I would like to present you with this.'
He held up a bladder which had evidently been taken from the body of a small animal. It appeared to be filled with some variety of liquid.
I took the bladder. It had an opening at one extremity, through which I surmised the bladder's holder could
