The Temple in the Sky by Fernando Herrera Jr (top 10 novels .TXT) 📖

her way to a second room toward the back. “You see? Bad llama! Don’t do that to our guests, you demon animal!” The llama then turned her head once more and spit for the second time. This time, the projectile of llama-spit directly struck old Kusco’s left eye. He squint his little eye and shrieked, “AAAHhhhh! She’s done it again, she has! You llama from hell! I’ll kick you where you stand!” And so he did just that: walked over to the llama and kicked her on the back of her shins, yelling out profanities and making gestures with his fist. He took a woolen cloth from the ground to wipe his eyes and looked over to the teenagers who were standing a few feet away. They were caught in giggles. The llama then left the room with a waddle for a trot.
“That llama from hell,” he mumbled. He pointed to a hall at the back of the cottage. “Apaec, go into that other room over there and bring back three stools for us to sit on,” he demanded. “I’m going to start a fire outside so we may have ourselves a nice feline for breakfast.” Apaec walked over to the room and found a set of wooden stools that were neatly placed side by side. The rest of the room was filled with clay pottery that had been beautifully painted with colorful patterns and symbols. He took three stools and walked back into the living room where Micay was waiting. He placed them one by one on the ground forming a circle. Micay proceeded to have a seat while Apaec walked over to the table and took the basket of fruit. He took a plump, green cherimoya and handed the basket over to Micay but she refused to take it.
“You should ask for permission. Very rude, Apaec,” she promptly uttered in bitterness.
“What are you, my mother? He told us to make ourselves at home, if I remember correctly, and at home, I would eat the cherimoyas.” She rolled her eyes as he took a bite. The fruit’s juices oozed down his cheeks as he took a deep breath as to gesture his enjoyment. “Heavenly,” he muttered, then wiped his face with his sleeve.
Kusco entered the room dusting his hands off, looked over to Apaec and said, “I see you’ve found your way into my delicious cherimoyas, have you? And they are so ripe, are they not? They are definitely a summer fruit, but still, during these cold winter days, they are quite satisfying.”
“Heavenly and scrumptious. Thank you,” he replied, nodding his head in satisfaction.
“Are you not hungry, my dear?” Kusco asked Micay, as she sat contemplating the basket of fruit. “Go on now… take your pick. This jungle here is exceedingly abundant with fruit. You mustn’t worry, child… take as many as you wish… please…. for this lovely morning, you are my distinguished guests,” he said to her smiling.
She quickly sank her dainty little fingers into the basket and picked the greenest one she could find. She obliged her craving, and made a similar gesture that Apaec had moments before. “Mmmm… thank you, Mr. Kusco. They really are very delicious.”
He crackled, “Oho-ho… please… my child, just call me Kusco,” he said with a smile. He then took a seat, grabbed a sour-sop fruit for himself, took a bite, and puckered up. “Oooh, this one’s very tart… I’ve started a fire outside, and in a bit, I’m going to need help from you two in skinning that feline. We shall have ourselves a breakfast fit for the gods. Indeed we will.” He indulged in the fruit gnawing and swallowing. “But now that we’ve settled… in the mean time… while the fire builds… [gulp] would you two mind telling me why you ended up in that big-ol-tree?”
They swallowed their mouthfuls and Micay spoke first. “Well, you see… we came looking for you because we heard you stayed in these mountains. We thought we could find you so we followed the creek behind the meadows for many hours, but never found any signs of you. The creek led us to an immense water fall, but it was impossible for us to climb the cliff, and we had grown frustrated so we decided to turn back. By this time, we only had about five hours to make it back. Thing is, the pond from the waterfall had many streams leaving from it and we could not remember what stream we had been following in the first place. We simply followed the wrong one and became lost. The sun set and we decided to camp, and that’s when we found that big tree. That’s pretty much it.”
He gazed at them dubiously and said, “Yes, I understand you were lost, but what was the reason you came searching for me in the first place? Your mother, Apaec, is the only other person who has ever been benevolent to visit me.”
“She has? I knew she was keeping things from me! I shoulda known!” Apaec shouted, while pounding his fist into the stool.
“She knew all along exactly where to find you. She just didn’t want me to know! Why would she keep that from me, Kusco? That sneaky lady! ”
“She was only looking out for me, Apaec, and you of course. My whereabouts are to remain a secret. I told her never to tell anybody, for my life is at stake.”
“A secret, but why?” asked Apaec. “Why are you hiding from the Cahuachi? You always told me stories about the Cahuachi, remember? That’s the reason for our visit. We want to know why you ran away… what made you leave the council?”
Kusco paused for a moment, took a deep breath, and began to tell his story, “Apaec, as you must now be aware, you are to become the next king of Nazca. I pray to the gods your time will come very soon. Your uncle is taking his last breaths of air, and for that reason, you must know the truth about the Cahuachi. This information is sensitive and you two must never speak of this to anyone. Micay, I trust you can keep a secret. If you are to become the queen, you should know this, too.”
She looked at him as her eyes grew broad. She was embarrassed, but could not bring herself to deny it. She did not want to upset the nice old man. Apaec turned to her with a crooked smile and slowly shook his head.
He signaled to her to just “go with it.” She then spoke, “Yes of course, Mr. Kusco. I would never do anything to put you in danger.”
“Thank you, my child. Now listen to me very carefully… Apaec, many years ago, before you were born, your grandfather Kennet and I took our positions in the royal council. He was a very dear friend of mine, you see, and I knew him very well. We had a plan for Nazca. We wanted to eradicate the dividing line between the Cahuachi and the Royal Council, to bring them together once and for all. For many generations, the Cahuachi have controlled the ways of the city and things have not changed for the better. It is we, the citizens of Nazca, who have the right to choose our gods, not the damn witches of Cahuachi alone. I believe that is the sole reason why there is never enough rain or food in our land, and that may also be the same reason why there are evil spirits lurking in the midst of our city. There lays the key to the solution of our problems. The Cahuachi are not wise in their decisions, and for that, beyond any shadow of doubt, we are inevitably doomed. We have the right to know the location of the Site of the Offerings, and the arrival dates. Many years ago, I organized a great assembly at the king’s court to present our ideas, but the Cahuachi grew outraged. They wanted nothing to do with our audacious propositions. They argued that they acted under the strict orders of the mighty lords, and that the lords would not be pleased by any disregards to their ruling. Powerless, we went to the king for help, but you see… and you’re going to have to pardon me for this Apaec, but your uncle is somewhat of a lethargic pig. It was us, the Royal Council, who actually executed policies. Your uncle is a lazy-buffoon, who simply couldn’t care less about the citizens. And so, I took it upon myself to personally meet with the High Priest of the Cahuachi in a last attempt to persuade them. But once again, I was completely turned away. He wouldn’t even see me, so I left empty handed. Your grandfather Kennet and I then made a bold and risky decision that would prove to be the end of our rightful place in the council. I suggested to Kennet that we secretly follow the witches to the forbidden site, in an attempt to contact the divine lords ourselves. We promptly plotted our mission, but quickly realized that in order to acquire the holy dates we would need to infiltrate the Cahuachi stones of data. We knew that the archives would have to be concealed somewhere inside their temple and somehow we would have to trespass the Forbidden City walls. It was clear we would have to be incognito, so we acquired white Cahuachi tunics, custom made for us by the councils’ tailors. Two days later, we departed on our crusade and successfully breached the golden-gates. Everything seemed to be going according to plan. The thing was, well, you see… Cahuachi City isn‘t too big, hence, every witch, recognizes every other witch in that blasted city, and for that solitary reason, our cover was quickly blown. We were taken as prisoners into dungeon for many months, and you’re not going to believe what we found. Only a few small windows high up on the walls let in a bit of light. Other than that, it was an infernal human-cocoon. The dungeon was crammed heavily with prisoners form Nazca…. and the only thing that most of the ‘prisoners’ were guilty of… was being oblivious to what was really happening outside in Nazca. Amongst the muddle and agglomeration of feculent human bodies, we found some old forgotten friends. Many who had gone mad from the malevolent state of their dooming prospects… but a few were able to render clarity to our bewilderment. We were told that most of the prisoners were peasants from Nazca villages who simply had the misfortune of running into confidential information, and were wandering amongst forbidden areas. For that, they were imprisoned and kept in the dungeon for many years, until their hearts would eventually give out. Other prisoners had actually been Cahuachi affiliates themselves. Isn’t that something? They were labeled as traitors because they had killed a fellow comrade or had become discordant to the laws of the witches. The last type… ha! You’re not going to believe this one—they were the most shocking of all! They were worthy-spirits who had been chosen, months, even years before. Preposterous! They were never taken to the heavens! Can you believe this? They were crudely deceived. They were indisputably lied to. It must be the worst place on earth… imaginable. It was hot and filthy. The place was like hell. There is no need for the Unsavory Death God to have created hell… this was more than fitting for the likes of it.” He turned over to Micay who was staring at him with immense intrigue and said, “Now Micay, what I am about to describe is not appropriate for an innocent and kind hearted spirit as yourself to hear. I kindly suggest you step outside for a moment. I do