Temple

But now I must hurry if I am to succeed in my quest. Join me, Alberto. Stay with me. Complete my mission with me. Look at these people. While you are with me, you are a hero to them. But while you are not, you are just another gold-eater who must be killed. And now I must go. I cannot stay behind with you. If you stay here, I will not be able to help you.

Come with me, Alberto. Dare to live.'

I looked at the Incan warriors behind me. Even with their primitive sticks and clubs, they still looked fierce and dangerous. I saw a Spanish soldier's head on a stake nearby, its mouth open in a grotesque yawn.

'I think I will go with you,' said I, turning and stepping waist-deep into the water next to him.

'All right, then. Take a deep breath,' said he, 'and follow me.'

And with that Renco held his breath and disappeared under the water. I shook my head and, despite myself, took a deep breath and followed him under the surface.

Silence.

The chants and shouts of the Incan hordes were gone now.

In the darkness of the murky river I followed Renco's kicking feet into a circular stone pipe that was set into the underwater wall of the city.

It was difficult to pull myself through the submerged cylindrical tunnel, its confines were so narrow. And it seemed to go on for an eternity. But then, just when it seemed as if my lungs would burst, I saw the end of the pipe and the rippling waves of the surface beyond it and I pulled myself harder through the water toward them.

I arose inside an underground sewer of some kind, lit by • flaming torches mounted on the walls. I was standing waist-deep in water. Damp stone walls surrounded me.

Square-shaped stone tunnels stretched away into the dark ness. The foul stench of human faeces filled the air.

Renco was already wading through the water away from me, toward a junction in the tunnel system. I hurried after him.

Through the tunnels we went. Left then right, left then right—thus we made our way hastily through the under ground labyrinth. Never once did Renco seem lost or doubtful—he just turned into each tunnel with confidence and purpose.

And then all at once he stopped and stared up at the stone ceiling above us.

I just stood behind him, perplexed. I could see no differ ence between this tunnel and any of the other half-dozen that we had just come through.

And then for some reason unknown to myself, Renco ducked underneath the foul-smelling water. Moments later, he came up with a rock the size of a man's fist. Then he climbed up out of the water and stood astride the narrow ledge that lined the tunnel and with his newfound rock began to hit the underside of one of the stone slabs that formed the ceiling of the tunnel.

Bang-bang. Bang.

Renco waited for a moment. Then he repeated the same sequence.

Bang-bang. Bang.

It was a code of some sort. Renco stepped back down into the water and we both stared up at the wet stone ceiling in silence, waiting for something to happen.

Nothing happened.

We kept waiting. As we did so, I noticed a small symbol carved into the corner of the stone slab that Renco had been assailing. It was a carving of a circle, with a double 'V' inscribed within it.

And then all of a sudden—boom-boom, boom—a series of muffled whumps could be heard from the other side of the ceiling. Someone repeating Renco's code.

Renco sighed with relief. Then he stood up on the ledge again and pounded out a new sequence of thumps.

Moments later, the whole square-shaped section of the ceiling slid away, grinding loudly against its neighbours, revealing a dark, cavern-like space above us.

Renco immediately climbed up out of the water and disappeared into the hole in the ceiling. I followed.

I came up inside a most splendid room, an enormous vault- like chamber, lined on all four sides with magnificent golden images. All four walls of the chamber were made of solid stone blocks, each one ten feet wide and probably as thick.

There was no obvious door, except for a smaller stone this one only six feet in height—set within one of the sturdy walls.

I was in the vault of the Coricancha.

A single flaming torch illuminated the cavernous space.

It was held by a burly Incan warrior. Three other equally large warriors stood behind the torchbearer, glaring at me.

There was another person in the vault, however. An elderly woman, and she had eyes only for Renco.

She was a handsome woman, with grey hair and wrinkled skin, and I imagined that in her prime she must have been a strikingly beautiful woman. She was dressed simply, in a white cotton robe and a gold-and-emerald headdress.

And I must say that in her simple white attire, she looked angelic, almost heavenly, like a priestess of some

Boom!

I spun at the sudden noise. Renco did, too.

Boom!

It seemed to come from the other side of the walls. Someone pounding on the outside of the stone door.

I froze in horror.

The Spaniards.

Hernando.

They were trying to get in.

The old priestess said something to Renco in Quechuano Renco replied quickly and then he gestured toward me.

Boom! Boom!