Chapter 2

The expedition had stopped for the night and were busy setting up their camp site. Each person in the party had a task to perform to make it quick and easy to get the tents up, the fire started, and the gear stowed.

As they went about their duties, none of them could know that just outside the ring of firelight, in the dusky jungle around them, evil forces were gathering. Silently, the enemy natives gathered and prepared to attack.

With little more than a jungle bird call, the marauding natives attacked the unwary Americans. Within minutes, the native warriors had overwhelmed the small party of explorers and had them secured with strong vine ropes. As the natives chattered back and forth talking about the raid and their captors, Marcos tried to translate the chatter as best he could.

But there were so many people talking at once it was hard for him to translate everything. He tried to pick out the important parts to translate to the others so that they would know what’s going on as well.

“These are the Yupanqui, apparently, and they are taking us back to their village. They say we have...” Marcos paused to learn more, “ ... trespassed on their ancient tribal lands and now we have to appear before the village chief to decide what to do with us.”

“Oh dear me!” Dr. Hope said upon hearing Marcos translation, “Did you say these were Yupanqui?”

“Yes, that what they are saying, why?” Marcos confirmed.

“Oh, this is terrible! The Yupanqui are said to be a very fierce warrior tribe and feared by all the tribes in the Amazon. They are known to take prisoners to use in sacrifices to their Amazon gods and goddesses. I fear we may be on the menu!” Dr. Hope said.

“What do you mean sacrifices? What kinds of sacrifices?” Dr. Anderson said, alarmed at this news.

“Well, not much is known about the specifics, but the Amazons are reported to have a few different types of sacrifices. With some, it is claimed that they skin their victims alive. Some, they cut the heart out. And I suppose if you are lucky, they just cut off your head and end it quickly. They have also been known to burn their sacrifices alive at the stake. I suppose it depends on what purpose they need and how much trouble you’re in!” Dr. Hope said.

“Well, once we get to see the king, we will have to explain that we didn’t know we were trespassing and that we are only here to find the lost city of Choque Cota to see if the legend is true. We won’t tell them we want to bring back anything from the ruins if we find them ... we don’t want them to think us treasure-seekers or thieves!” Dr. Anderson said.

They raiding party lead their prisoners along the trails they used – trails that the Americans had thought were animal trails all this time. The Americans had their hands bound behind their backs and ropes around their necks linking them together in a prisoner chain.

It took only a few minutes travel to bring the prisoners back to the raiding party’s camp where they were tied securely to trees around the camp until the next morning. Then a couple of the warriors kept watch over them all night until daybreak when their march began anew.

The Yupanqui moved quickly along the trails. They knew the forest intimately and knew just where they were going. The Americans had a hard time keeping up and stumbled often over an exposed root or loose rock. When that happened, they were choked by the neck rope until one of the others helped him back to his feet. But the group kept moving inexorably forward.

They prisoners spent an uncomfortable second night tied to the trees and the third day brought them to the Yupanqui village. The Yupanqui were a semi-nomadic tribe somewhat reminiscent of the Plains Indian tribes in the United States. And while there were no teepees in the Yupanqui village, there were no permanent structures either.

Everything was organized in a semi-circle arrangement with the chiefs home in the middle of the semi-circle and an even number of dwellings on either side of him. In front was the main area of the camp where all the activities took place.

The dwellings could best be described as brush domes – rounded “structures” made of tree branches and leaves. Waterproofing was provided by sewing several capybara hides together and throwing the large blanket over the top.

As the group was marched into camp, Dr. Hope could not help but be impressed by the Yupanqui encampment. Even though he was a prisoner and his fate was anything but decided, he marveled at the organization and orderliness of the village.

Everyone seemed to have their jobs to do even though those jobs took a sudden halt at the strange white men came walking past them. The villagers all stopped and stared, children ran behind their mothers and people pointed and chattered in their native tongue.

“They are all wondering what is with the strange pale people. They are shocked at our skin color and strange dress ... they’ve never seen anything like us before!” Marcos translated.

“Well, the same goes for us too!” Dr. Anderson replied.

They were marched into the center of the semi-circle and as they watched the chief came out of his lodge. He stood up and stretched – he was a huge man! He stood about six and a half foot tall and had broad muscular shoulders and huge arms.

He looked like he could take on any pro football player in the States and do very well. He dwarfed all the other men in his village. The rest of the villagers knelt as the king stood up from coming out of the small lodge doorway.

He walked up to the bound Americans and looked over the line of prisoners. He seemed to take particular exception to the native guides the expedition had employed, giving them a smack on the chest with the back of his hand as he barked something at them.

The guides didn’t show any signs of weakness or fear, though, standing proud and firm even though they knew that their lives were coming to an abrupt and horrific end soon.

He moved on to examine the strange white-skinned people. He seemed fascinated with Dr. Andesron in particular because of his blonde hair. Everyone in the village and most propbably everyone he had ever seen had dark hair mostly black. So to see a blonde man was a curiousity.

After surveying the prisoners, the chief went back and sat on a large stump while his warriors sat on mats on the ground. His higher seat was a show of power and dominance over the other warriors of the tribe.

As he began speaking, Marcos translated so everyone else could understand; “My name is Acahuana and I am chief of the Yupanqui. You have trespassed onto our ancient lands. Why have you done this?”

Then Dr. Anderson spoke and Marcos translated it to Chief Acahuana; “We did not mean to trespass, Chief, we are only explorers looking for the city of Choque Cota. We want to know if the legends are true. We mean no disrespect to you or your people.”

Chief Acahuana then rattled off a few more words pointing to the native guides as he did. Marcos once again translated; “You did not mean to trespass, yet you have these two who should have told you about our lands!”

Dr. Anderson tried once more to convince the king of his mistake. “Mighty Chief Acahuana, we are mere explorers from a far off land interested only in learning more about the legend. We do not wish to insult you or cause you any trouble. We do not know your ways and we are sorry if we have wronged you.”

Chief Acahuana sat on his stump throne trying to decide what to do with the interlopers. He wanted to dispatch the native guides because they brought these meddlesome white people. And he wanted to kill off the white people for fear they would return to their land and bring back more of them the next time. As he pondered what to do, a beautiful young copper-skinned Inca woman walked out of the chief’s lodge and sauntered up to him. She whispered something in the Chief’s ear.

“My daughter Tika seems to have taken a liking to you. She wants the one with the yellow hair,” Chief Acahuana said. Dr. Hope was mostly bald, and what hair he did have formed a silver ring around the back of his head. Marcos and the others were all various shades of dark brown or black hair.

“I am honored that your daughter likes me,” Dr. Anderson said through Marcos, “but I would also plead for the life of my fellow explorers. They are my friends and I won’t abandon them.”

Chief Acahuana thought on the matter for a few moments. Dr. Anderson added one final comment through Marcos; “Chief, our gods are mighty ones and they would not look well at having their people killed over such an innocent mistake as this.