Inca Kings

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Alicia fought hard to sift through the swirling eddy of emotion that pounded at her. Only recently returned from a side mission in the Caribbean where she’d lost one of her own, she still struggled to process the young man’s death. Thrust into this new operation, at first a swift mission, now more akin to a rescue or search and destroy exercise, she had begun to feel a little overwhelmed. And with the presence of Drake and Mai, and the ongoing complications within the team, she battled the increasing urge to cut loose.

You can’t abandon the villagers.

Is that the only reason you’re staying?

No, she stayed for Drake and the rest of her new family. Even friggin’ Mai. Because even the runt deserved some loyalty. She stayed because she felt and embraced a duty to do so. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but worry about her other team and how they were coping. It didn’t help that the lands around here were as hostile as the goddamn enemy, and even the wildlife was deadly. Not that she’d laid eyes on anything yet. Only heard the distant cry of wolves.

She ended up sitting with Kinimaka. “How’s it going? Hayden still being a bitch?”

The Hawaiian was retying his laces, probably to make sure he didn’t fall over them. “You can be very blunt, can’t you?”

“Shit, piss off. Me? Nah, I’m a motherfucking princess.”

“Funny. I’ve never seen that quality.”

“You should look a bit deeper. Outside, yeah I’m nasty. Dangerous, hot and immensely shaggable, but inside…” She paused, thinking. “Well, I dunno. Maybe ask Drake.”

“Hayden and I are done, to answer your initial question.”

Alicia heard a call, then rose and offered a hand. “Then move on.”

“Easy for you to say.” Kinimaka heaved up, using the house at his back for balance and then gauging it as if to make sure it wasn’t about to fall down. “Moving on for me means literally moving on.”

Alicia looked to where Drake and Hayden were assembling a team. “The team would be damaged without you, Mano.”

“You left. Once or twice.”

She winced. “Yeah, and I came back.”

“We always worked well together.”

She steered him toward the group. “You two made a good team before you started doing the Pork Sword dance. You could be still.”

“She’s not the same.”

“We all change, Mano. Get used to it. But she’ll change again, have no doubt. And maybe you’ll be there for that.” She gripped his arm as they came within earshot if the group. “If you want to be.”

Alicia took in the scene. The SPEAR team stood around in reserved silence, weapons prepared, packs full, warm coats and hats and other equipment at the ready. The young man that had seen the mountain’s ghosts stood with his head held high and his eyes wide, looking every which way except toward the mist-shrouded heights. Two grown-ups were with him — the boy’s parents. The debate had centered around the boy’s knowledge and necessity, but when Hayden finally pointed out that he’d be safer with the team than back at the village, the tone soon changed. Several volunteers were offered. A new debate threatened to start up. It was Mai and Brynn that pointed out that the morning was wasting away and if the trekkers didn’t want to be out after dark then they should get going.

Alicia fell in next to Drake, looking into the village from the outskirts. Narrow paths wound between houses, funneling the winds. Most of the inhabitants and Conde stood in the crowd of watchers, facing the mountains and its terrors. In truth, they had placed an awful lot on the boy and his daring past act, but even Emilio and Clareta vouched for him, and the way he spoke convinced them even further.

He knew something. And some kind of trauma was keeping him silent.

Alicia kept a sharp eye on the terrain as they headed for the lowest point between two mountains. Their slopes looked brown from this distance, almost barren, but the closer they came the more she began to see an abundance of small green bushes and trees. Clear trails meandered up toward the heights, passing a few brave, solitary farmhouses along the way. The ground was rocky, uneven, threatening to give way at every step. They traversed the path between mountains and then began to climb the eastern slope, rising gradually. The village grew small below and then the trail wound around to the northern slope and it fell out of sight.

Hayden called a brief watering stop and took the time to ask the boy if he’d been able to keep his bearings. For the first time he looked confident and a little haughty.

“Of course. I was born here.”

The morning waned and soon became afternoon. Deeper into the mountains they went, one slope merging with the next until even Alicia had to concentrate hard to remember the way back. Trouble was, everything looked the bloody same once you were up here. A deep chill saturated the air, making her draw her jacket close around her.

“Any chance we can stop for a bite to eat?” Kinimaka panted at last. “I’m famished.”

“Seconded.” Alicia slapped Drake across the shoulders. “Did you pack the sarnies, dear?”

The Yorkshireman sighed but dug out a pack of rations. They wouldn’t eat the villagers’ food; not until they had to. Three gulps and the meal was gone. Kinimaka looked nothing less than miserable. Smyth was chomping at the bit, eyes probing the landscape as if his head were in the game, but Alicia guessed where his thoughts were really at. Yorgi was keeping quiet as usual and Mai was staying close to the kid, offering support where need be. Alicia thought of a few motherly digs but decided now was not the right time.

The mountains held jealously to a depth of silence that had a striking resonance all of its own. Alicia felt small and insignificant, walking among its timeless slopes, an emotion she hadn’t entertained for some time. She kept her eyes on the vast landscape.

“Do you think the kid’s lost?” she asked Drake quietly. “We’ve been out here for hours now and he made this journey at night.”

“It was here,” the boy then said aloud. “It was all around here.”

He pointed toward a cairn off to the right, a man-made mass of stones in the shape of an upside-down ice cream cone.

“I was close. Too close. I heard one of them talk. Just one. He called this the Feasting Trail.”

Alicia glared at the waymark as if it might be intimidated into giving up all of its secrets. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I hid here,” he said, pointing near the base of the stones where the grass was flattened. “Over a week ago. I told nobody. I… I…” His lower lip quivered.

Mai bent over, placing a knee on the yellowish ground. “You are safe now. You can speak. Tell us what you saw, my friend.”

Haunted eyes fixed solely on hers. “The trail went that way.” He gestured without looking. “Winding upward and marked by torchlight that flickered. Because the lights were bright I could make out what was underneath…” He swallowed, looking white and sick.

Drake shared a glance with Alicia. She gestured toward Smyth and Yorgi. “Maybe you guys should secure the perimeter. Just in case.”

The boy struggled to speak, tears in his eyes. “Body parts,” he forced out. Each standing torch lit a pile of…” He choked and Mai told him not to go on. Alicia drew a heavy breath and followed the trail with her eyes. They should see signs of scorching up ahead — something to follow — and perhaps even some remains. She didn’t voice the obvious questions — whose bodies? Were they the creatures or were they the villagers? Or perhaps others? It was enough that the boy had led them here after witnessing such a horror.

He wasn’t yet done.

“Far, far along,” he said. “Up there. The lights glowed bright and were steady. The Feasting Trail led that way, though I went no further. In my nightmares I see it as their home.”

“Did you see what happened to the body parts?” Kinimaka blurted out. “I mean — it’s an odd way to mark a trail. Are you sure they were real?”

Hayden frowned at the Hawaiian, about to admonish his thoughtlessness, but the boy latched onto Mano’s words. “I watched only for a little while before I ran, but the mountain spiders or whatever you call them, stopped by each fire and lifted the remains. That’s how I knew what they were. They seemed… they seemed to carry them away.”

Alicia felt revulsion twist her face. “Senseless and twisted,” she said. “I don’t understand this at all.”

“They are the ghosts of the mountains,” the boy said. “I told you so.”

“Ghosts don’t leave a trail.” Mai stared into the middle distance. “Let’s see if these guys do.”

Together, they headed out, gathered protectively around the boy. Smyth found a small hole in the earth a hundred meters distant. The grass was spotted black all around, the dirt charred. With utter care now they moved forward, easily finding another three torch-holes. The path bent outward toward the edge of the mountain.

Coming around the curve of the slope they saw Yorgi had stopped and was staring at the ground. Alicia, Drake and Hayden went forward, leaving the others behind. The Russian looked up as they approached, distaste on his face.

“Another hole in the earth,” he muttered. “And this.”

Alicia cursed inwardly. A blackened foot lay on the ground, partially rotten; the flesh torn and ragged. Hayden pinched the bridge of her nose.

“What the hell is going on, guys?”

Smyth came up, glaring at the foot as if it were a rattlesnake. “When in the mountains,” he said. “Keep your gaze up high.”

Alicia saw it then; above them and clinging to the side of the next rocky rise, perched on the slope of the mountain several hundred meters distant.

“Is that… a house?” Drake asked. “Too far to make it out properly.”

“These things have to live somewhere.”

“I was thinking more like a cave. A nest, maybe.”

Alicia didn’t want to ask if he was joking. The house appeared to be built on three levels, with towers jutting at either end and a front wall from which a steep pathway delved down toward the valley below. “We should get closer,” she said. “Do a proper reccy.”

Hayden checked her watch. “No time for that,” she said. “Unless you wanna be out here for the night. In any case, the boy doesn’t and we must respect that.”

“Plus,” Drake nodded, “I think they’ve already seen us. Just saw the glint of binos. I don’t like it, but I think we should all head back to the village and dig in. hopefully, they won’t raid tonight, but we should prepare.”

“We know where they are now.” Smyth’s lip curled with satisfaction.

Alicia regarded him. “You fancy going in there? I know I don’t.”

“It’s a den of evil and no mistake,” Kinimaka said. “We should prepare for anything. Anything at all.”

Alicia turned away, seeing Mai still shielding the boy from the worst of it all. “It’s the villages around here we should worry about,” she said. “We can’t protect them all.”

“Information,” Drake said, “is the key. Surely somebody knows all about this house and who owns it. Someone in Cusco. Shit, it could even be our chateau.”

Hayden coughed. “You only just made that connection, dude?”

“Well, now we have a location and pictures.” He pulled out his cellphone and took several snaps. “Looking at the position it must have a helipad. Unless the guy’s a…” he stopped, staring, then finished. “A recluse.”

“With an army of pet spiders,” Alicia added. “That terrorizes the local villages.”

Drake shook his head in disbelief. Alicia knew exactly what he was thinking. We stumbled into some mega-crazy shit this time.