Empire of Gold

30


Peru


‘So these are cloud forests, huh?’ said Macy, surveying the scenery. ‘I can see the forest part – but where are the clouds?’

‘Don’t worry,’ said Eddie, driving. ‘Once they come down, you won’t see anything but bloody clouds!’

The seven-seater Nissan Patrol was in the middle of a small convoy, heading north along a dirt road that had split off from a paved highway some thirty miles north of the provincial capital, Chachapoyas. In another off-roader behind them were two Peruvian archaeologists; the tall, thin-faced Professor Miguel Olmedo from the University of Lima, and his shorter, fatter associate Dr Julian Cruzado. A local archaeological presence was both expected and welcome, but Nina was less enthused about their also being accompanied by a senior official from the Peruvian Ministry of Culture, a rather full-of-himself man named Diego Zender who had attached himself lamprey-like to the expedition to claim a stake in the glory if the mythical El Dorado turned out actually to exist. Zender had an assistant, a young, long-haired woman called Juanita Alvarez whose function when not acting as a chauffeuse, as far as Nina could tell, was mostly to stand beside her boss looking pretty.

But freeloaders weren’t the issue. More worrying was the profession of the four men in the leading Jeep. Soldiers. Her request for security had been taken seriously, but she couldn’t help feeling that the armed group in their military vehicle might draw exactly the kind of curiosity she hoped to avoid. Zender’s claim that the troops were necessary to protect them from the terrorists known to operate in the province had not exactly been reassuring.

But for now, Nina was able to forget such concerns and simply enjoy the landscape. The three 4×4s were heading up a long, lush valley, vegetation clinging to practically every non-sheer surface. Unlike the trees in the rainforest around Paititi, those here were rather squat, clawing moisture out of the air when the clouds descended rather than waiting for rainfall, but they were every bit as dazzlingly green in the stark high-altitude sunlight. The river that had carved the passage out of the Andes was over fifty feet below at the bottom of a ravine, but the slope they were ascending was broad enough for them to stay well clear of the drop.

That wouldn’t be the case for long, however. In the distance, she picked out the road’s brown thread clinging precariously to the flanks of the mountains. Swathes of grey running down the hillside, as if someone had randomly scraped away a top layer of green paint, provided evidence of recent landslides. ‘So,’ she asked Eddie, ‘when you mentioned death roads the other day . . . is that actually what they’re called?’

‘’Fraid so,’ he replied. ‘Went along one in the Philippines once. F*cking terrifying! Combat’s bad, but idiot drivers are worse. The best bits of it, there was just enough room for two cars to get past each other.’

‘And the worst bits?’ Kit asked from the second row of seats, where he was sitting with Macy.

‘Just enough room for one car. Only problem is, people still try to pass, ’cause nobody wants to reverse for half a mile. And God help you if a bus or a truck comes the other way – they just go “We’re bigger than you, so we’ve got right of way” and come right at you without stopping.’

‘You know,’ said Mac from beside Osterhagen on the rear seats, ‘I think I’ll just sleep until we get there. If we go over the edge, try not to wake me with your screams, hmm?’

‘At least there is not much traffic,’ Osterhagen said. ‘We should not have any prob—’

At that exact moment, the convoy rounded a bend – and the Jeep skidded to an emergency stop. Eddie had prudently kept a safe distance behind it, and was able to bring the Nissan to a halt with ten feet to spare. Unfortunately, Juanita had not been so careful, and the Patrol’s occupants took a jolt as her off-roader nudged their bumper.

The driver of the bus lumbering the other way gave the stalled vehicles a baleful glare. ‘Everyone all right?’ Eddie asked, getting positive responses. He looked back at Osterhagen. ‘You were saying, Doc?’

Osterhagen recovered his composure. ‘I was about to say that once we get past the next village, which is the last settlement for over forty kilometres, we should not have any problems.’

‘Of course, Leonard,’ said Nina teasingly.

There was a walkie-talkie on the dashboard shelf, letting the three vehicles communicate; it squawked. ‘Hey, careful how you drive!’ Zender demanded. ‘That could have damaged my car.’

‘Damage his face,’ Eddie muttered, picking up the radio. ‘Here’s a tip – you might want to stay further back and not drive so fast.’

‘Juanita knows how to drive,’ came the peevish reply. ‘Now come on, get going!’

‘Think anyone’d mind if he went over the edge?’ Eddie asked as the bus finally squeezed past. Nobody raised any objections. The Jeep set off, the Englishman pulling out after it. With a lurch, Zender’s vehicle followed.

About five minutes later a village came into view, ramshackle buildings clumped haphazardly on each side of the road. The Jeep’s driver sounded his horn to encourage a skinny goat to clear out of their path, the blare attracting curious looks from the locals. Once the animal had ambled aside the Jeep moved off again, and Eddie had started to follow when Osterhagen suddenly jumped in his seat. ‘Eddie, stop the car!’ he cried, pointing. ‘Over there, look!’

An elongated, moss-covered rock poked out of the ground like a giant raised finger. ‘What is it?’ Nina asked.

The German was out of the Nissan before Eddie had brought it to a complete stop. ‘It’s a huaca! On the map, one of the last markings before the Incas reached El Dorado was of a particular type of huaca. And this,’ he pointed excitedly at the stone, ‘is almost identical to one on the Inca Trail – and the marking is the same!’

Nina joined him as the third 4×4 pulled up. ‘So you think we’re nearly there?’

‘Yes, absolutely!’ He gazed at the valley ahead. ‘Only a matter of kilometres. I am certain!’

Zender’s window whirred down. ‘Why have we stopped?’

‘Navigation check,’ said Nina. ‘Dr Osterhagen thinks we’re getting close.’

The official’s impatient expression was replaced by approval. ‘Ah! Good, good. Well, lead us there, doctor!’

It was now Eddie’s turn to show impatience. ‘Are we done?’

‘Yeah, we’re done,’ Nina said. She and Osterhagen re-entered the Patrol, and it continued on its way, Zender’s 4×4 behind it.

A scruffy man, the smouldering stub of a cigarette between his lips, emerged from a house to watch the convoy pass. He paid special attention to the Nissan – and the red-haired woman in the passenger seat. Once the convoy had left the little settlement, he stubbed out the cigarette, then took out a cellphone.

Beyond the village, the road steepened – and the ground it traversed narrowed enormously. The ravine carved by the river was now over a hundred feet deep, the drop growing steadily higher as they drove along. The route ahead was not so much running through the mountains as clinging to them by its fingernails.

The convoy slowed as it approached a bend. Poking up from the cliff’s edge were several crude wooden crosses. ‘Ah . . . what are those?’ Macy asked nervously.

‘Where people have gone over the edge,’ Eddie said, navigating the turn. ‘Narrow roads, bad drivers and old cars with knackered brakes aren’t a good mix.’

‘Yeah, I wish I hadn’t asked,’ she said, shuffling across the seat away from the edge. ‘Couldn’t we have gone by helicopter?’

‘I don’t think the Peruvians’ budget would have stretched to that,’ said Nina.

‘I would have paid! I’ve got money!’

The Patrol’s other occupants laughed as it rounded the bend, revealing more of the twisting route. As Eddie had promised, clouds were starting to obscure the valley below, in places the ever-deepening ravine vanishing into a blank grey haze. Somehow, that made the prospect of going over the edge even more frightening: no way of knowing how long it would take to reach the fall’s inevitable conclusion.

Other features were still clearly visible, though. ‘Is that the waterfall?’ Kit asked, pointing.

Ahead, a great scar ran down the hillside, vegetation and even soil scoured away to reveal the bare rock beneath. It started at the top of a rise a few hundred feet above the road, and descended into the clouds below. A thin waterfall flowed down the centre of the exposed swathe, splashing on to the road. Nina checked her map and satellite photos, puzzled. ‘No, this isn’t marked.’

Eddie reduced speed. ‘Must’ve been a landslide. Probably a river up there somewhere that overflowed.’ The road itself was covered in debris, rocks and thick reddish-brown soil dumped on the already rough surface. Even though the locals had made the obstruction passable by simply shovelling much of the stuff over the cliff, the way forward was still worryingly narrow.

The soldiers in the Jeep also had misgivings, three of them hopping out and leaving the driver to traverse it alone. Nina drew in a sharp breath when the Jeep reached the waterfall and slipped sideways – the constant flow from above had turned the soil to a soft, muddy slush – but a quick burst of power pulled it free, muck spraying from its wheels. Once it cleared the landslip, the soldiers hurried after it.

‘Well, us next,’ said Eddie cheerily. ‘Everyone out. Except you, Nina.’

‘What?’ she protested as the others exited. ‘Why do I have to stay in the car of terror?’

‘’Cause of that whole “till death us do part” business – it might not be too far off. Nah, I’m just kidding,’ he added, at her unamused expression. ‘I need you to look out of your side and tell me how close we are to the edge.’

‘Too close,’ she said, even before he started moving. ‘Way too close!’

‘Ha f*ckin’ ha. Okay, here we go . . .’

The Patrol was considerably wider than the Jeep, the wheels on Nina’s side coming within inches of the edge – which sagged alarmingly as the truck’s weight was put on it, clods of earth falling down the steep slope. Somehow, a stunted tree had managed to cling to a rock outcrop below while everything around it had been washed away, the lone sign of life a silhouette against the clouded abyss. She looked away from the vertiginous view to the sliver of road between the tyres and the long drop. ‘About six inches, six inches, three inches – whoa! Minus an inch.’

Eddie turned the 4×4 in as far as he could, trying to keep it in the ruts made by previous traffic. ‘That better?’

‘Yeah. Relatively speaking.’

They reached the waterfall, the stream drumming off the roof. Nina, still leaning out of the window, gasped as spray washed over her. But the Nissan rolled on, soon clearing the landslip.

‘Piece of piss,’ Eddie said, cracking his knuckles. ‘And we even stayed dry! Well, I did.’ Nina glared at him from under damp strands of hair.

The Nissan’s passengers caught up, then the last off-roader made the crossing, Zender chivalrously abandoning the passenger seat and allowing Cruzado to act as Juanita’s navigator. But she too cleared the landslide safely, and the convoy continued. There was an awkward moment when a pickup truck coming the other way took a ‘first come, first served’ attitude by swerving to the inside of another tight, unprotected bend marked by more crosses, forcing the three vehicles to creep around it on the outside, but they soon reached the first piece of actual infrastructure along the road: a short wooden bridge across a narrow gap.

‘We’re getting close,’ Nina said into the radio as she found the landmark on the map. ‘About another mile.’

The news produced a renewed sense of anticipation, even as the clouds closed in. The road narrowed again, the hillside so steep that a short section had actually been carved out of the rock itself to allow it to continue, thousands of tons of stone hanging above the vehicles. Beyond that, though, the way ahead began to widen out. Another couple of turns . . . and their destination came into view.

‘Now that’s more like it,’ said Mac admiringly. The broad waterfall ahead was much more impressive than the one they had passed on the road, plunging down a vertical cliff for over two hundred feet. Its base was hidden by jungle; the falling water had cut a deep bowl out of the hillside, every square inch packed with plant life. Above the cliff, tall peaks loomed through the clouds, the river feeding the falls flowing through a narrow valley between them.

‘This is the place,’ said Nina. She passed word via radio to the other vehicles. The soldiers turned off the road and led the way into the little forest, crunching the Jeep up a slope for a few hundred yards, winding between the trees, before the sheer density of vegetation blocked their path. The other 4×4s stopped behind them.

Everyone climbed out, glad the bumpy ride was over. Nina stretched and looked round. The waterfall was now obscured by foliage overhead, but the echoing rumble from up the hill meant it would not be hard to find.

She noticed that Mac appeared a little hesitant on the uneven ground. ‘You okay?’

‘I just need a bit of extra support,’ he said, smiling. ‘And there it is.’ He picked up a fallen branch and knocked it against a nearby trunk to shake off loose dirt before leaning on it. ‘There. A perfectly good walking stick.’

‘Tie another couple together and you’ll be able to make a Zimmer frame,’ Eddie joked.

Mac waved the stick at him. ‘Do you want me to kick your arse, Eddie, or beat it?’

‘Now, now, boys,’ said Nina, amused. She turned to Osterhagen. ‘Okay, Leonard. What are we looking for?’

Osterhagen had photo blow-ups of the Paititi map laminated in a folder. ‘First, we find the waterfall, I suppose. Then, if the painting was accurate, the ruins should be to one side of it.’

Zender bustled over, Juanita a step behind. ‘Is this the place? Have we found it?’

‘We haven’t even started looking,’ Nina chided. ‘Okay, to find the waterfall we just need to follow our ears. Then we’ll see what else is there.’

The soldiers stayed with their Jeep as the rest of the expedition moved uphill into the jungle. The rumble of falling water soon became a roar, and they emerged from the trees to face its source.

‘Now that’s pretty . . . wow,’ said Macy.

‘No kidding,’ Nina agreed.

Close up, the falls were even more spectacular than they had appeared from the road. The flow, some ninety feet across, plunged down the wide, almost sheer cliff to crash thunderously over the broken boulders at its base. Spray swirled across the pool carved from the rocky ground, sparkling rainbows shimmering in the sunlight breaking through the clouds. A broad, fast-flowing stream acted as a run-off, water rushing away into the forest.

Osterhagen compared one of his pictures to the view before him. ‘It looks a lot like the painting. Don’t you think?’

‘It’s pretty close,’ Nina agreed. While the mural was stylised, there were undeniable similarities between it and the real-life features of the landscape.

‘So in that case,’ said Eddie, ‘where’s this lost city?’

‘Let’s take a closer look, shall we?’ Nina led the way to the water’s edge. ‘According to the map from Paititi, it should be off to that side of the waterfall.’ She pointed. ‘We’ll split up and check the cliffs.’

Eddie looked up at the falls. ‘Think this really is the place?’

‘It could be. I’m getting a vibe.’

‘I thought you left your vibe at home?’ he said with a dirty smile. Nina shook her head, then directed the others to begin the search.

Despite her gut feeling, however, nothing turned up. The cliffs were conspicuously lacking in golden cities, or nooks and caves that might provide entrance to one. Empty-handed, the expedition members regrouped by the pool. ‘I don’t understand,’ said Osterhagen disconsolately. ‘It matches the picture from Paititi. What are we missing?’

‘There is nothing here,’ said Zender. ‘We have wasted our time.’

Nina was losing her own patience with the Peruvian official. ‘We haven’t finished searching yet. There’s the other side of the waterfall to search, for a start. And then there’s the waterfall itself. There might be an opening behind it.’

‘Easy way to check,’ said Eddie. He picked up a stone and flung it into the plunging waters. A faint clack of rock hitting rock was audible even over the rumble of the falls. ‘Well, that’s solid,’ he said, picking up a second stone and hurling it at a higher spot. ‘And that’s . . . ’

The second missile was swallowed up without a sound.

‘. . . not,’ Eddie concluded, surprised. ‘Huh. I was only doing that to take the piss!’

‘There’s a cave behind the waterfall?’ Mac asked.

‘Maybe . . .’ Nina regarded the falls thoughtfully.

Eddie threw another stone, aiming at the same height as before, about sixty feet above the pool, but some way off to one side. Again, the missile disappeared noiselessly. ‘It’s at least forty feet wide,’ he said, bending to pick up a new projectile.

Nina put a hand on his shoulder. ‘Save your pitching arm, hon. We’ve got an easier way to check.’

Amongst the team’s equipment was a laser rangefinder, which Nina had requisitioned from the IHA to take measurements of whatever they found. The results took some time to collect; while the device could work through rain, it hadn’t been designed to send its beam through a torrent of water. The reading constantly fluctuated as the laser light was refracted by the falls. But she didn’t need millimetric precision, only for enough of the beam to reflect off the cliff for her to get a reading . . . or not.

Osterhagen stood beside her as she scanned the waterfall, sketching the results. It became clear that there was indeed an opening hidden behind the deluge – a large one, at that. The cave mouth was some seventy feet wide and at least forty high, its lowest point fifty feet above the pool.

Always fifty feet above the pool. While the outline of the opening was irregular in shape, its base was completely level. ‘That’s got to be man-made,’ Nina said.

‘It could have formed along a rock stratum,’ said the German. But it was clear he didn’t believe it.

Eddie looked at the drawing. ‘Be a bugger to get to it. Even if you climb up that high away from the waterfall, you’ve still got to get across – and that much water coming down’ll knock you right off unless you’re seriously well attached. That’s a job for a pro climber.’

‘I used to climb,’ offered Cruzado. Everyone looked at the portly, middle-aged Peruvian. ‘A long time ago,’ he admitted.

Nina continued surveying the cliffs. ‘We might not need to go all the way up,’ she said, pointing at a spot almost dead centre of the waterfall, and considerably lower. ‘There’s another opening.’

‘It is not very big,’ said Osterhagen as she took more readings. He marked it on his sketch. It was roughly twenty feet above the base of the falls.

Nina swept the rangefinder back and forth. ‘I think that ledge leads to it. Someone might be able to climb up to it and then go along behind the waterfall.’

‘Someone,’ said Eddie, with a faint but distinct sigh. ‘You mean me.’

‘I’d volunteer,’ said Mac, ‘but, well . . . ’ He banged his stick against his prosthetic leg, plastic and metal rattling.

‘Can you do it, Eddie?’ Nina asked. ‘With the climbing gear that we’ve brought, I mean. Or will we need to go back to town for more equipment?’

‘No, I can probably do it with what we’ve got,’ he said. ‘I’d rather take the chance than drive along that bloody road again!’ He looked between the waterfall and Osterhagen’s drawing, judging distances. ‘We’ve got enough rope, so . . . yeah, I think I can do it. I’ll put in some spikes so I can hook up the line.’

‘So that we can get across?’

‘I was thinking more so I can get back. It’s only twenty feet up, but I don’t really want to end up in that pool. There’re a lot of pointy rocks.’ He gave the cliff one last look, then nodded. ‘I can do it. Let’s get the gear.’

Eddie, Nina and Macy trekked back to the Jeeps, finding the four soldiers sitting around smoking and looking bored. Their interest perked up when Macy filled them in on developments. The highest-ranking of them, a young lieutenant called Echazu, decided to accompany the group back to the waterfall – purely in the interests of gathering information for his superiors, of course, rather than the hope of being involved in something mediaworthy. Another soldier, a corporal, persuaded him of the benefits of having a second pair of eyes to help with his report, but the two remaining privates were left disappointed as they were told to stay and watch the vehicles.

The soldiers in tow, they returned to the waterfall. Mac and Osterhagen had been to the base of the falls in the hope of glimpsing what lay behind it, but nothing was visible through the water and spray. ‘That looks like the easiest way up,’ Mac told Eddie, indicating a particular section of rock face.

‘Yeah, shouldn’t be too hard,’ Eddie agreed, before giving the older man a look. ‘Been trying to find a nice simple route for yourself, have you?’

‘Well, of course! If El Dorado really is hidden behind there, I’m not going to stand outside like a lemon while you and Nina explore it. I want to see the place for myself.’

‘That’s if there is anything back there.’

‘There must be,’ said Osterhagen earnestly. ‘Everything fits - the map at Paititi, the khipu, the trail of huacas. This is the place.’

‘Then let’s find out,’ said Nina. She regarded Eddie expectantly.

‘Muggins leads the way, as usual,’ he said. ‘All right, I’ll go and find you another archaeological wonder. If I must.’ He grinned, then gathered his equipment and went to the foot of the cliff.

The edge of the waterfall was only ten feet from where he began to climb, and spray quickly soaked him. As Mac had thought, the ascent was straightforward; it took barely a minute before he was level with the ledge. It was only a matter of inches wide. Eddie hammered a spike into the rock and attached a carabiner, then threaded the rope through it and dropped one end down so the others could follow him up, tying a knot to secure it. Then, the line coiled over one shoulder, he faced the wall and edged sidelong along the ledge.

Even though the route was set slightly back beneath an overhang, the falling water still pounded at his back. He dug his fingers into cracks in the rock, clinging tightly and advancing step by cautious step.

After about forty feet, the cliff bulged slightly outwards. It would force him directly into the deluge. He tried to look past it to see if the ledge continued on the far side, but his view was blocked by water and spray. Keeping hold with one hand, he took out a second spike and gingerly supported it in the crook of his thumb before tapping it into place with his hammer. Another carabiner was hooked on, and the rope clipped through it. Satisfied it was secure, Eddie took several deep breaths – then found a firm handhold and pulled himself into the deluge.

He almost lost his grip as the full force of the water hit, threatening to hurl him down on to the jagged rocks below. Blinded, unable to breathe, he pressed his chest against the rock and groped ahead. The protruding section of cliff was only short – his hand found clear air again on the other side. He hugged the wall and slid round it, emerging back beneath the overhang.

Utterly drenched, Eddie shook water from his face and regained his breath before attaching another spike. Holding the rope, he twisted to look at what lay behind the waterfall.

His eyes widened at the sight. ‘Well, bloody hell . . . ’

Nina’s radio crackled, Eddie’s voice almost drowned by the noise of the waterfall. ‘Nina, you there?’

‘Eddie! Are you okay?’

‘Yeah, I’m fine. F*cking soaked, though.’

‘What can you see?’ she asked. ‘Is there an opening in the cliff?’

‘Nope.’

A shock of disappointment ran through her. ‘What? There isn’t an opening?’

‘Oh, there’s an opening. There isn’t a cliff.’

The group exchanged confused glances. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, it’s not a cliff. It’s a wall.’