Scarlett Fox had seen many things in her day. She had stolen jewels in Asia and seduced counts in Russia. She had even liberated artifacts from other con artists and explorers when the need arose. But her specialty was escape. However, when the shadows of a hundred deranged monkeys flickered along the ancient tunnel walls, she could barely believe it.
Distantly, the sound of Francisco, the hairy blonde conquistador, yelling and the slapping of shoes on stone penetrated her shocked fog, but still she didn't move. Not when the shadows became solid forms. Solid black apes loping awkwardly toward them from across the massive room, moving much faster than they should be able to. Not to mention the skulls. Shining human skulls glistened on their furry monkey faces, and Scarlett Fox, notorious thief and escaper of all situations sticky, simply froze.
The monkeys, however, did not. Scarlett knew she was going to die when their hot breath tickled her cold skin. She closed her eyes and tensed for their impact.
Until a warm, calloused hand closed around her wrist and pulled her away. Scarlett's eyes snapped open and she stumbled away from the screaming beasts. Montana roared, "Run, damn you!" and dragged her after the others who were sprinting down another tunnel.
She wrenched her hand out of his grasp and ran hard after the others. "What did you think you were doing?" Montana growled at her as they tried to pull away from the horde of slavering primates.
"What do you think I was doing?" Scarlett snapped angrily. She wouldn't admit to this stuck up school teacher that she had almost given up. He was the one who gave up. He was the one who backed down and got sentimental over nothing. He was the one who suddenly found a couple morals and decided to let society neuter him like some stray cat they pick off the streets. Cause that's what he'd been. That's what happens when you get emotions get in the way in this business.
Scarlett put her head down and ran faster. She wouldn't think about Montana as he had been. She wouldn't think about what they had been together. Because that was emotion. And emotion made you weak. He taught her that.
Her lungs ached. Her legs burned. She was covered in a cold sweat even though she felt over heated. The air was too thick. Or maybe too thin? Either way it was like breathing under water. Scarlett had caught up to the others and was running at the end of their little pack. The conquistador was in the lead. Though how some loon, wearing sheet metal had turned into their leader she had no idea.
He turned sharply and pulled open a little door in the wall and everyone piled in. Scarlett dropped to the floor and tried not to throw up. She couldn't remember the last time she had run that far. The conquistador slammed the door and stood in the middle of the small, dimly lit room, panting.
"Welcome," he wheezed, "to my," he coughed loudly, "humble abode. Mi casa es su casa." The walls of his "abode" were lined with rough shelves filled with even rougher clay jars and bottles. Scarlett could smell herbs and smoke and something faintly rotten. Though that may have just been B.O. - schlepping through a jungle didn't exactly leave anyone smelling fresh, or looking fresh for that matter. Except for Karma, though her hair may be doing all the work there.
Karma was actually started to look a little run down, pun intended. She had collapsed next to Scarlett and was breathing heavily, as were Montana and his Zack.
"You," Scarlett gasped, motioning to El Conquistador, "Them I get," she waved at Montana and Zack, "But you." back to the conquistador, "What the hell?"
The conquistador looked shocked for a moment before regaining his composure. He bowed low, "Francisco Montoya, pleasure to mee-"
"Yeah, yeah, introductions are over. What are you doing here?" Scarlett had found her second wind and was feeling rather put out that there were not two but three people here to take the idol from her.
Francisco shifted uncomfortably and glanced around the room. "Well… I came here on a scouting mission from Spain. It was soon after that damn Cortez had conquered some natives of the new world, and I had set sail to have a conquest of my own."
Everyone stared blankly at him. The Zack spoke up, "Cortez as in… the douche bag that destroyed an entire culture, Cortez?"
Francisco nodded grumpily, "So you have heard of him, yes? I never much liked the man. He was far too arrogant for my taste. But I wouldn't be outdone by him. So I came here with a few dozen men to win an even greater fortune."
Scarlett snorted in a most unladylike way and shook her head in disbelief. This man really was crazy.
But he continued, "When we arrived the people worshipped us like gods. They were amazed by our weapons, and by the ships we had appeared in. And we were equally amazed by the wealth of the city, the scale of the temples, no matter how primitive, and especially the magic."
Scarlett couldn't take anymore. "Magic? Sure, whatever. I'm out." She jumped up and headed for the door. "Let's go, Karma." Karma stayed put. "Karma?"
The smaller girl kept her gaze locked in her lap for a moment. "We should stay."
Scarlett laughed incredulously, "You can't be serious. This man is insane. He's claiming to know Cortez, as in Hernando Cortez, who died over five hundred years ago."
"Just listen?" Karma looked up at her plaintively. She was a mess; her hair had fallen from it's intricate twist and fell in sweaty straggles down her back. She hadn't looked this tired and unkempt since Scarlett first saw her in China.
Slowly she nodded and sat back down next to her friend. From the corner of her eye she saw Montana watching the exchange closely. But she refused to look at him.
Francisco took the silence as his cue to carry on, "The native people could do wondrous things with their magic. Cure terrible illness and induce visions, but they could also cast curses. Of which I had far too much experience with. You see while I was there… I had many conquests, and not the fame seeking kind. One of which was a young woman named Atzi. She was beautiful, but nothing special. At least I didn't think so. But of course her grandmother was one of the most powerful magic workers of all. And unfortunately, her specialty was curses. So when her granddaughter came to her in tears. Wailing about the horrible man who tricked her into loving him, she appealed to their priests to have me and my men sacrificed to their true gods. But they feared us too much. They rejected her request and sent her home.
"That's where the story would have ended. However my men feared that the old woman had sewn a seed of doubt about our divinity." He looked ashamed then, "It is hard to give up power once you have so much of it. So they threated the priests with their guns, demanding that Atzi be sacrificed for her insolence towards me, their leader.
"So they tore her away from her grandmother to be sacrificed in the morning on the alter of their sun god."
"Why didn't you stop them?" The cry came from Zack. He stared at Montoya in horror, and Montana awkwardly patted his shoulder.
Montoya tried not not to make eye contact, "I wish I had now. Though at the time it seemed the best option. These were a brutal people, and the only way to keep our power was to be brutal ourselves. Of course Atzi tried to run from them. She was strong and quick. But she couldn't run forever. And eventually as she tried to escape through the narrow, winding paths of the city she became exhausted and fell. And so the priests caught her, dragged her back to the temple and tore her heart out."
The room was silent, even Scarlett caught up in the gruesome tale of poor Atzi's demise.
"That was how the curse was laid on the temple. Her grandmother was infuriated, she saw through my godly façade into the maze of trickery and deceit that really gave me my power. And she was just as angry with her own people, for putting their faith in a few outsiders with strange fire sticks. So she laid a curse not just on me, but on the entire city.
"She turned the people, every single one of them into massive apes. That's why the monkeys wear the skulls. They are their human faces. Everyone even my men, but not me. For me, she had a worse plan. First, she gave the temple its own life- it breaths and moves, its passages and pathways twisting and turning and even changing. And then she gave the monkeys rage, a primal, senseless rage towards me, and every other human who enters the place. They can sense us. They know where we are. Or they can find us after a time if we stay in one place for too long. And once the chase begins you can never escape. There is no end to the running. There is no way out.
"That was her curse for me. To run from my people, my men and the natives who bowed at my feet. With no hope of escape. To run as her granddaughter ran."