Chapter 18
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Nera marched along behind Niklas. Her hands were bound in front of her, and while it was some natural vine that she’d been tied with, she’d tested it, and it was damned strong. She wasn’t slipping free any time soon.
They were all bound together in a long line, their captors keeping guard, their tattooed faces grim.
The warriors had a primitive look, with their animal-hide clothes and black tattoos.
They carried spears and large, machete-like knives carved from shiny black rock.
Nera also noted how they all moved with a precision that screamed intensive training, and they gripped their weapons in a manner that promised her they knew how to use them.
On top of that, the spears were tipped with a green-black substance she guessed was the corrosive poison they’d encountered before.
Primitive, but effective. And they knew the terrain.
Their little band was following the cliff face. The mutant dogs trotted along beside them, deceptively calm, tongues lolling. But any time they looked at one of Nera’s group, they growled.
She pulled in a breath. They just had to be patient and wait for an opportunity.
And if anyone tried to hurt Niklas…well, they’d soon realize that was a mistake.
Ahead, two more warriors appeared out of the vegetation, calling out to the others in their strange language. They, too, had black tattoos covering their bare chests. They were talking quickly and gesturing.
One of their captors prodded Nera and she moved on. They passed fences of sharpened spears pointed toward the jungle. On one, she saw the decaying remains of zombies. Ahead, she saw a huge cave entrance in the rocks, with more sentries flanking it.
They passed inside. She watched Niklas looking around with interest, and she shook her head. The man just absorbed everything and loved learning. The tunnel was wide and well-used, the dirt floor compacted down.
Soon, they came to a junction with three tunnels spearing off, each in a different direction. Their captors kept going, taking them straight ahead into the largest tunnel.
Ahead, she heard the echo of voices, smelled smoke.
The tunnel opened up into a giant cavern.
Holy stars, it was huge. She looked up and saw different levels carved into the rock walls, and what looked like dwellings.
There were people everywhere, with the same leather and fur clothes, and tattoos etched on their skin—arms, chests, even their faces.
There were men, women, and children. Nera tried not to stare.
Some of the children had terrible deformities.
Large, tumor-like growths on their faces.
A few with eyes missing. One child looked at them, and Nera saw what appeared to be a second mouth on her cheek.
They were led to a stop at the far side of the cavern. On a huge chair carved from a twisted black tree, sat a woman.
Nera eyed her coolly. The woman wore a short leather skirt, with some sort of fur covering her upper body, and she had leather gauntlets on her arms. Deadly black knives were set into sheaths on the gauntlets.
She was also beautiful and completely free of any deformity.
Her black hair fell in a rain down her back.
She stood, her sharp gaze moving from each one of them to the other. Nera didn’t like the look in the woman’s eyes. She watched them like they were possessions, not people. Suddenly, she barked out some words at them.
Avril cleared her throat. “Hello, I’m Dr. Avril Luma-Smythe. I’m the leader of this expedition—”
Everyone in the room cried out, and mutterings broke out across the cavern. Some people gestured with their hands, others looked like they were praying.
The leader barked out a word and silence fell. She walked closer to them. Her gaze passed from Avril, lingered on Niklas, then paused on Solomon. Or rather Solomon’s blond hair. Then her gaze came to Nera.
Yep, I’m a bitch just like you. Nera lifted her chin.
The woman finally stopped in front of Avril. “You…speak the language…of the ancients.”
English. The woman could speak English. It was halting and heavily accented, but clear.
“Yes,” Avril answered. “It’s the business language of the galaxy.”
“Galaxy?” The woman frowned. “You come…from the stars?”
“Yes. We are descendants of the people who lived here on Earth but left.” Avril looked around. “Before the fighting that destroyed the planet.”
Another woman, this one old and wrinkled with a missing eye, moved up behind the leader. Her white hair fell almost to her ankles. She called out in their language. The crowd tittered and gasped.
“I take it she’s translating for the masses,” Niklas murmured.
“No one survived the time of destruction,” the leader said. “Only the Rumin.” She thumped her chest. Others in the cavern mimicked the movement.
“Rumin,” Niklas said. “That’s not familiar, but I think their language was one that was native to this area.”
“Some people survived by leaving the planet.” Avril cleared her throat. “You must know there were great cities, and great technology, before the time of destruction.”
The leader gave a nod. “But that time is passed. Now the Rumin rule.”
“We mean you no harm. We just wanted to find pieces of history. We were searching for a lost treasure of an ancient culture. The Inca.”
The old woman crowed something, and again the crowd gasped and cried out.
“Uh, I don’t think that went down so well,” Solomon muttered. One of the guards shoved him.
“The Inca gold is sacred,” the leader said. “Our ancestors have always protected it from anyone who came to find it. We are the children of Ruminahui. It must never fall into the hands of those who would misuse it.”
Niklas made a small noise.
“What?” Nera murmured.
“I think they are descendants of the Incas. Ruminahui…that’s the name of the Inca general who hid the treasure. I think the Incas had people here to protect the treasure, right from the beginning.”
Nera raised her brows. “That would explain why anyone who came looking for it never made it out of the mountains.”
He nodded. “I think maybe a group of them lived up here, in these very caves, and that helped them survive the nuclear devastation.”
Nera looked around, her gaze falling on a small boy with a hunched back. “If you call this surviving.”
“You come to take something that is not yours,” the leader said. “It falls to me as Sapa, the leader of the Rumin, to decide your fate.”
“Not good,” Solomon muttered.
“We meant no harm or disrespect.” Avril kept her voice smooth and deferential. “If you let us go, we’ll leave now.”
The Sapa strode back to her chair and sat. She studied them with dark eyes devoid of mercy. “So you can return with more of your…technology? And take with force what is not yours?”
Not dumb, this leader. Nera tensed, seeing the guards moving.
“Please, great Sapa.” Solomon stepped forward, a smile on his handsome face. “We mean no harm.”
Clever man. Nera hid a smile. Solomon had noted the Sapa’s interest in him earlier.
The leader tilted her head. “Why should I listen to you?”
“No reason. Just that I tell the truth.”
The Sapa’s dark gaze wandered over him. “You are blessed by Inti. The woman, too.”
Nera realized the Sapa was talking about her. She raised a brow.
“Your hair,” Niklas murmured. “Gold. Like the sun.”
“You must be a prince of your people,” the Sapa said.
Solomon stiffened. “I’m not a prince. I’m just a treasure hunter.”
The Sapa’s face changed. “Someone who takes what is not theirs.”
“Hang on—”
The Rumin leader waved a hand. “I am the protector of the treasure. You are all sentenced to capacocha. That is where your fate is decided. Anyone who survives is granted a boon and may leave.”
Nera tensed further. Which likely meant whatever the hell the capacocha was, they weren’t likely to survive it. She caught Niklas’ gaze and vowed she’d get him out. Or die trying.
“Any idea what capacocha is?” she asked.
“I’m not positive…”
“Niklas, just tell me.”
“I think it was some kind of sacrifice.”
Just great. They were herded into another wide tunnel. Torches attached to the walls flickered. They kept moving and soon they heard a familiar groaning and snarling.
Oh no. She forced herself to relax. She needed to be prepared for anything.
They rounded a corner and the tunnel changed. It was lined by cells carved into the rock walls. Bars made of hardened wood had been built-in, allowing them to see the zombies packed into each cell.
Claw-tipped hands reached out through the bars, and the zombies’ cries turned frenzied.
One of their captors thumped his spear against the nearest cage and bit off something in their language.
The zombie shrank back and quieted a little.
“I really, really don’t like the look of this,” Niklas said.
The tunnel opened into another cavern.
Nera’s stomach clenched.
This room had tiers built into it, and on each rock ledge people were sitting and others were filing in from other smaller tunnels.
People watched, faces alight, and a sense of excitement swept through the cavern.
On a raised platform on the far wall, the Sapa had arrived.
She lounged on a pile of furs, two people hovering beside her holding platters of food.
In the center of the room was a sunken pit.
“A colosseum,” Niklas said.
A nearby guard snarled and jammed the back of his spear into Niklas’ side. Niklas grunted but Nera was already in motion.
She kicked the guard in the back, sending him staggering.
He spun, and she used her tied hands to capture the end of his spear.
She planted a boot in his belly and used the leverage to leap into the air.
She wrapped her legs around the man’s neck, and got a quick glimpse of bulging eyes, before she dropped her weight back.
As they fell toward the floor, she used the strength in her thighs to twist, and snap, the guard’s neck.
They hit the dirt, but she was already climbing to her feet. The poison on the spear head had eaten through her bindings and they fell onto the dirt floor. She dusted herself off.