Empire of Gold

31


Eddie gazed up at his discovery. Behind the waterfall, everything was shrouded in shadow, but there was still more than enough light to see the scale of the wall. Like the ceremonial buildings at the heart of Paititi, it was built from exactingly carved blocks, fitted together with incredible precision. Thirty feet above him was its top, a horizontal line bisecting what had once been an irregularly shaped cave mouth. He couldn’t help thinking it looked like a battlement, the almost sheer, incredibly smooth surface making it impossible for anyone to get inside.

Except by the entrance further along the ledge.

The laser rangefinder had been correct; there was a second, much smaller hole. He regarded it with deep suspicion. It was about five feet high by four wide, and as far as he could tell wasn’t barricaded. A simple, inviting way in.

Too simple. Too inviting. The Incas wouldn’t have built a massive defensive wall, then left a hole through which any gold-hunter could wander. There had to be a catch.

‘What do you mean, a wall?’ said Nina over the radio.

He described it, then continued along the ledge. ‘I’m going to look through the doorway,’ he reported as he advanced. A gentle trickle of liquid splashed over his hand as he balanced it against the wall – not from the waterfall, but from a small slotlike opening above. There were similar gaps nearby. ‘I think there’s water behind the wall as well. I just went under a drainage hole. Hope nobody’s still living here – I’ll be pissed off if I’ve been pissed on.’

‘At least you’ll be able to wash yourself straight away,’ said Nina. ‘How far to the doorway?’

‘Almost there.’ He sidestepped along the last few feet, then cautiously peered into the opening.

Nothing leapt out at him, no traps were sprung. The confined stone passage looked empty, extending about twelve feet before stopping at a wall. Taking out a Maglite, he crouched and shone the torch inside. There appeared to be a vertical shaft rising up on the other side of the wall. But to where?

‘Okay,’ he said, after telling Nina and the others what he had found, ‘it looks clear, but I don’t really trust it. Were the Incas big on booby-traps?’

Osterhagen took the radio. ‘The Incas never developed the wheel, so they weren’t able to build complex mechanisms. But there have been simple traps found at some sites – tripwires, balanced stones.’

‘Great. Just what I needed to hear.’

Nina’s voice came back through the speaker. ‘Eddie, wait where you are. I’m coming up.’

‘Don’t suppose I could persuade you not to? Yeah, thought not,’ he added before she could even reply. ‘You’ll want to put on a rain hat, though.’

It took her ten minutes to get there, holding the rope tightly as she shuffled along the ledge. Even though she had donned a hooded nylon poncho over her clothes, she was still soaked to the skin. ‘God damn it!’ she said as she reached him. ‘This thing was supposed to be waterproof.’

‘Even if you wore a full gimp suit, water’d still get in somewhere,’ Eddie told her. ‘Anyway, this is what we’ve got.’ He shone his light into the tunnel. ‘I risked a look inside while I was waiting. There’s a ledge about seven or eight feet up the back wall, some more above that. And there’s something else. Have a gander.’ He ducked, and moved carefully into the passage, at its end turning sideways so Nina could squeeze past him to see for herself. ‘What do you think?’

‘I think . . . that looks kinda damn worrying,’ she said as she looked up the shaft.

The way up appeared to be stepped; she couldn’t see all the way to the top, but at least three ledges were visible above. Anyone trying to ascend would have to jump to grab the lip of the next step, then pull up and repeat the process. It would be a strain for someone of her modest height, but far from impossible.

That wasn’t what concerned her, however. The reason for her worry was what faced the ledges, set into the back of the great wall behind her.

Spikes.

The first row was only a foot above her head. She gingerly touched one. The dirt that had built up over the centuries came away at her touch, revealing the metal beneath. ‘Oh, my God,’ she said. ‘It’s silver. Solid silver. They all are.’

‘Silver?’ echoed Eddie. ‘But there’s dozens of the bloody things – hundreds. They must be worth a fortune!’

‘And these are just the defences. Imagine what the treasures they’re actually protecting must be.’ She tapped the spike’s tip. ‘Ow! Okay, that’s still sharp.’

‘Not much of a defence, though.’ Eddie leaned across the vertical passage, stretching out one arm to the back wall. ‘There’s plenty of space. You’d have to be really clumsy or a total fat bastard to hit them while you were climbing up. Maybe the spikes move.’ He tested how securely the silver prong Nina had touched was attached to the wall. It was firmly fixed. ‘There’s got to be something. Otherwise why put’em here?’

‘I suppose you’d hit them if you fell back down the shaft.’ The ranks of spikes were angled upwards, as if to catch anything that dropped on to them. ‘Or were pushed.’

‘Something pops out of the wall?’

‘Maybe. I don’t know. But it’s the only way up.’

Eddie directed his torch back up the shaft. ‘I’ll have a look at the next level,’ he said, stepping out of the low tunnel and standing upright. ‘Move back. Just in case anything happens.’

Somewhat unwillingly, Nina retreated. Eddie aimed his torch beam along the lip of the ledge above. No sign of loosely fitted stones that might be triggers. Something as simple as small spikes just behind the edge would prove nasty, so he jumped up as high as he could, looking for telltale flashes of silver. Nothing.

He steeled himself, then leapt again, this time grabbing the edge with both hands. He hung for a moment, listening for any unexpected noises. But there was nothing except the waterfall’s constant rumble.

‘Do you see anything?’ Nina called.

‘Just looking now . . . ’ He pulled himself up. The ledge, a rectangular stone slab four feet wide and three deep, was empty of anything except dirt. ‘It’s clear.’ He climbed the rest of the way.

Nina watched as he used the Maglite to check the walls – and the spikes. ‘Is there anything there?’

‘Nope.’ He examined the ledge above. ‘Oh, ’ello! There’s something on the next level.’

‘What?’

‘Statue heads on the back wall.’ Still cautious, he climbed up for a closer look. Three stone faces stared coldly at him: sleek, aggressive and feline. ‘Big cats – like panthers or something.’ He reached for one—

‘Eddie, don’t touch them!’ Nina cried.

His hand froze an inch short. ‘What is it?’

‘The map, in Paititi – it had jaguars on it. Three of them, at the entrance to the lost city. And something bad was happening. Give me the radio, I need to check with Leonard.’

He tossed it down to her. ‘Leonard,’ she said, ‘do you have the close-up photo of El Dorado from the map?’

‘Just a moment,’ came the crackling reply. A short while later, the German’s voice returned. ‘I have it.’

‘Good. Look at the section with the three jaguars – tell me exactly what you see.’

‘Why? What have you found?’

‘Eddie’s found the jaguars, but I think we might find something else if we’re not careful. What’s on the picture?’

‘Okay, there are . . . three jaguars sitting in a line. To the left is what appears to be a waterfall, with two men being swept away by it.’

‘Eddie, did you hear that?’ she asked, looking up. Eddie nodded. ‘Is there anything unusual about the waterfall? Any objects or symbols by it?’

‘There are . . . small lines beside it,’ the older archaeologist said. ‘Many of them – twenty or more.’

‘Diagonal, pointing up, yes?’

‘Yes, that is right. You have a good memory for pictures.’

‘No, I’m staring right at them.’ She gave the silver skewers a leery look. ‘We’re in a vertical shaft, and one wall is covered with metal spikes.’

‘Wait,’ said Eddie, ‘so the waterfall comes down here?’

‘And washes you into the spikes, yeah.’

‘Oh, that’s f*cking magic! I’m coming back down.’

‘No, stay up there,’ Nina said quickly. ‘Leonard, I’m going to get Eddie to describe what he’s seeing, okay?’ She held the radio high so it could pick up his voice.

Unnerved, Eddie shouted a description of the three stone heads. ‘They’re about a foot apart, and . . . ’ He looked more closely, shining his torch beneath them. ‘And it looks like they move. There’s a vertical slot underneath each of ’em, like they’re on the ends of levers.’

‘How far can they move?’ Nina asked.

‘Not far. Six inches, maybe.’

She thought for a moment, trying to compare what Eddie was seeing with her memory of the picture. ‘Leonard, what was on the other side of the three jaguars?’

‘A man climbing some very steep steps.’

‘And are the spikes on that part of the picture too?’

‘Yes.’

‘Two sets of stairs?’ Eddie wondered.

Nina shook her head. ‘There’s only one entrance. No, it’s something to do with the cats.’ She asked Osterhagen to describe the three animals.

‘The two on the left are sitting upright,’ he told her. ‘The one on the right is crouching down.’

‘Two up, one down,’ she said. ‘It’s part of the Incas’ journey, a clue. But it’s like the huaca markings and the khipu - they thought it was one only they would understand.’

‘Well, if you understand it, I wish you’d tell me,’ Eddie said.

‘I think it’s a key – the way to get into El Dorado safely. The two cats on the left are sitting up, so their heads are held high - at the top of the slots. But the one on the right is looking down at the man climbing up the steps—’

‘At the bottom of the slot,’ he concluded. ‘Like a combination lock. Two up, one down, and that stops you having terminal acupuncture.’

‘Exactly. Well, er, I think. I hope.’

‘Yeah, I hope too, seeing as I’m the one who’s going to have to bloody test it!’

‘Are you sure?’ she asked. ‘We can always go back and try to figure out some other way to get up there.’

‘No, I think you’re right,’ he said. ‘They wouldn’t have put it on the map if it didn’t mean something. All the other stuff on it’s worked out so far, so . . .’ He straightened. ‘Let’s give it a shot, then. Here, kitty, kitty . . . ’

He put his hand on the rightmost of the three carved heads, hesitated – then firmly pushed it down.

There was a muffled grinding sound from behind the slot, then silence. He looked up. No water erupted into the shaft. ‘Is it all the way down?’ Nina asked.

‘Far as it’ll go.’

‘So now what?’

‘See if it worked, I guess. Okay, let’s see . . .’ He swept his light along the edge of the third step above him. Nothing out of the ordinary presented itself. He climbed up, finding that this ledge was devoid of any features, only plain walls of intricately arranged blocks.

The top of the shaft was now visible above, the ceiling of a high cave picked out in the half-light coming through the waterfall. Whatever secrets the Incas had left behind were only a matter of feet above.

The thought made him more wary than ever.

He performed another round of checks for potential traps on the fourth ledge. This time, he noticed something different, and unsettling: a gap beneath the slab forming the step. It was only a matter of millimetres high, but compared to the precision of everything else it stood out like a gaping chasm. He took out his knife and probed the narrow opening. It was deeper than his blade could reach. ‘Nina?’

‘Yes?’

‘Go back outside. I think I’ve found the trigger.’

‘No, I’ll stay with you.’

‘No you won’t, ’cause if we’ve cocked this up, I’ll end up stuck on some spikes and you’ll get chucked on to those rocks outside! Go back on to the ledge – stand a few feet from the doorway be safe. Go on!’

Nina reluctantly headed down the tunnel. Eddie waited until he was sure she was clear, then turned his attention back to the next step. Could he wedge something into the gap? Maybe, but that seemed a little too obvious.

Besides, he had confidence in his wife. All the puzzle pieces fitted together – it was time to see the full picture.

He jumped up and grabbed the edge of the slab.

A faint creak, just the tiniest hint of give as his full weight hung from the stone . . .

And nothing.

He climbed up to stand on the ledge and a jolt of fear surged through him as the stone tipped very slightly beneath his feet. But again, nothing happened. Either the trap had broken down over time, or the jaguar heads really were in the correct position to stop it from going off. There definitely was a trap, though; beneath the slab was a fulcrum, the stone tilting on it like a seesaw. But it wasn’t the weight of someone climbing up that would set it off, rather when they stood on the ledge itself, thinking they were safe . . . only for water to explode down the shaft and slam them into the spikes.

‘Clever little buggers,’ Eddie muttered, turning his attention to the top of the shaft. As far as he could tell there were no more hidden threats.

He climbed up into the cave itself.

Nina had guessed from the absence of water surging down the tunnel that Eddie had successfully avoided the flood trap. But as minutes passed with no sign of him, she became increasingly worried. Unable to endure the uncertainty any more, she went back through the opening. ‘Eddie!’ she called. ‘Eddie, can you hear me?’

No reply. Concern rising with each step, she peered up the vertical shaft – and Eddie dropped down in front of her, making her shriek in surprise. ‘Ay up, love.’

‘Jesus, Eddie!’ She recovered her composure. ‘Are you okay? What took you so long?’

‘I’m fine – I was just having a look round.’

‘What’s up there?’

He shrugged. ‘Bits and bobs.’

‘What?’ Disappointment washed over her, as cold as the waterfall outside. Had the site already been looted – or worse, was it nothing but a decoy, an Inca trick? ‘There’s no city? Nothing valuable?’

‘I dunno, I’m not the archaeologist, am I? Come on, I’ll help you up so you can see for yourself. Watch out for the spikes.’

He hoisted her up so she could climb on to the first ledge, then followed. Before long they were at the top of the shaft. ‘I’ll go first and pull you up,’ said Eddie. He climbed into the cave, then reached down for her. ‘Ready?’

She nodded and took hold of his arms, then he hoisted her up the final section of wall. Nina stood, eyes adjusting to the grey light as she looked into the cave.

For a moment, she was dumbstruck. Then she finally managed to speak. ‘Oh, you son of a bitch.’

Eddie shrugged again, this time with a grin. ‘Yeah, I was lying. Just wanted to see your face.’

Filling the great cave was a lost Inca city. El Dorado. The legend was real.