CHAPTER LII

THE INCAN EMPIRE

The alert system in the Barrett had been blaring for a good ten minutes before Sora and Kairi had woken up everyone on the ship. They headed out to the bridge, half asleep, and looked out the viewscreen to see the new world they were orbiting.

The world was strange – as Sora began to land the ship, they were able to see a massive temple that looked like a giant head. A massive golden face formed the visage of the temple, with a tall headdress that looked like the rays of the sun. The mouth extended downward to the ground, where it led to a grand staircase that seemed to extend forever. They looked to the left and they could faintly see a tall hilltop village…but it was lost behind the trees as Sora landed the Barrett near the base of the stairway.

Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald, Goofy and Eddy exited the Barrett, and Riku was very relieved to see that they had stayed the same.

"Good…no bugs," Riku said, starting to walk up the massive stone staircase. It was indeed an impressive temple – the staircase was lined with large pillars and flagpoles, all flying red and purple banners. When they reached the top, Donald and Goofy were panting from the workout, as Sora and Kairi approached two large looking guards. They each wore a similar headdress to the one that was carved into the temple, though much smaller. They crossed their two intimidating battle axes, blocking the doorway.

"Halt! Who seeks council from Emperor Kuzco?" asked the guard on the left.

"Er…Sora, Kairi Riku, Goofy and Donald. We're actually just looking for help…" Sora stammered, impressed by the guards stature.

"Another bunch of peasants looking for handouts," stated the guard on the right.

"You may speak with his advisor, Yzma."

They clinked their massive axes together as they separated, allowing Sora and his friends to enter the temple. When they got inside, they noticed all the fantastic furniture carved from gold and bronze, the massive tapestries hanging from the walls and the beautiful candles giving light to the interior – it made the outside look like garbage in comparison. They followed the stairway upwards as it led them into a massive audience chamber.

The chamber was full of earth-tone pillars and a massive stone platform at the far end of the room. Atop the platform was an extravagant throne, and sitting in the throne was a wiry old woman. She had a strange purple tint to her skin, which looked as if it was going to fall off of her body at any moment. She had her black hair pulled back into a large, fanned out ponytail which sat on top of her head like a disgusting spider. He body was quite possible the thinnest body they had ever seen – it was a wonder that she could support the weight of her own black dress. Her mouth looked too large for her head, as did her eyes. She smiled widely as they entered the room, looking down from her nearly fifty-foot pedestal.

As they grew closer, they could see a large man standing next to her. He had a square jaw and beady little eyes stuck behind a caveman's brow. He wore a hat like the guards, but it was clearly too small for his comparatively tiny head. His shoulders were wider than the throne that the woman sat on, and they tapered down into a v-shape as they ended at his hips. His big, muscular arms looked like they could rip their heads off…but suddenly, he dashed off of the edge of the platform with his arms outstretched, falling fifty feet and crashing into the stone floor below, landing awkwardly on his face.

He stood himself up and brushed himself off. He sheepishly looked over at the friends. "I saw a butterfly…" he said, running back up behind the pedestal to stand by the woman's side again.

"Greetings, peasants…what can I do for you today?" she smiled, baring all of her teeth – two of which, they could now see, were as sharp as daggers, much like a vampire's.

"Actually…we're not peasants…we're just here looking for a little help on our journey…" Kairi yelled up to the woman.

"Ah…very well then. My name is Yzma, official advisor to the Emperor. This is my assistant, Kronk," she said, pointing at the feather-brained muscle man.

"Nice to meet ya," Kronk said. "Sorry about the butterfly thing…I get carried away sometimes. Yzma says I need to focus, like start doing crossword puzzles or something, but I don't see-" he was cut off as Yzma stomped on his foot from the throne.

"That's enough, Kronk."

"Right. Sorry. Go ahead, Yzma."

Yzma and Kronk climbed down the hidden staircase behind the platform. When the finally arrived at the bottom, they stood face to face with Sora, Riku, Kairi, Donald and Goofy. She raised an eyebrow without saying a word, prompting Sora to make his request.

"Oh…we're looking for an ancient artifact that may be here…we're not exactly sure what it could look like…but do you have anything like a bronze animal statue we could take a look at?"

Yzma looked Sora up and down, and then pulled Kronk aside, whispering something in his ear.

"Yes, yes…you seem to pose no threat…come. The trophy room is just over here," she said, guiding them to the left side of the audience chamber. A massive tapestry with a picture of a green alligator was pulled aside by Kronk, revealing a hidden stairway. When they had climbed all the way to the top, they were treated to a sight that very few peasants got to see in their lives – Emperor Kuzco's trophy room.

There were literally hundreds of gleaming golden animals sitting on shelves all around the room – but as hard as Sora looked, he couldn't find a single one with an elemental marking on it. Donald, in the meantime, had once again become completely enamored with the sight of treasure, his big black pupils turning into ruby red jewels…

"Touch nothing. If you find the artifact you're looking for, I'm sure we can arrange a healthy trade for it…how much gold do you have on you?" Yzma asked slyly. Something was very strange about this woman…like she was doing this behind her emperor's back…

"Well…we don't have any…" Sora muttered. "All we have is munny…but we've got plenty of that!" he said, pulling out a small bag that clinked with coins. Yzma rubbed her chin for a moment, finally clasping her hands together as she smiled. She reached out and grabbed the entire pouch before Sora had time to recoil. He wanted to punch her right in the face for being so rude…but that Kronk fellow was bigger than him and Riku combined…

"Go ahead…look around…but only you, boy," she ordered, looking over at Donald's gleaming red eyes. In a flash, Donald lost all self control as he rushed over to a fantastic looking statue of a slim looking dog, encrusted with white diamonds and emeralds.

"Donald! Don't touch anythin'…" Goofy yelled, chasing him and grabbing him around the waist. Donald had barely touched the statue with one feather when a loud alarm began to blare throughout the room, red lights flashing in unison with the noise.

Yzma panicked. "Kronk! Detain them!" she screamed, as Kronk scooped up Goofy and Donald under his arm, dragging them back into the audience chamber and out of Sora, Kairi and Riku's sight. Eddy flew after them, squealing like they were playing tag.

"Hey! What's the idea!" Kairi yelled, forgetting where she was.

"I said not to touch anything, and your friends disobeyed. They must be jailed until Emperor Kuzco decides their fate…it's out of my hands…" Yzma sneered.

Riku stepped forward. "Fine…we'll take it up with him. Just give us our munny…"

Yzma tossed the pouch up in the air and caught it as she started out of the room. "I do believe we had a verbal deal…take whatever artifact you choose…that is, before Emperor Kuzco finds you…" she cackled, walking back down the stairs. Sora tried to chase her, but a massive stone door slid down and blocked their only exit as Yzma pushed a button down below.

"Great! That was half of our munny!" Sora said. "And by the looks of things, this Kuzco guy isn't going to be happy that we're in his trophy room…even if we were trapped by a sneaky witch…"

"Easy come, easy go…" Kairi said simply. "We'll make more munny…let's look around, while we're stuck in here…"

"Yeah. Who knows? Maybe we'll find the lever for the door or something…?" Riku pondered, as he stared at a shelf full of fishing plaques.

The trophies were strange – while most people had one trophy for one event, Kuzco seemed to win first, second and third in almost every competition – bowling, fishing, llama herding…Kuzco seemed like a hero with all the trophies he had…

As he gently peered behind some large clay urns in the back of the room, careful not to touch them, Riku noticed a glint of bronze from the corner of his eye. He kneeled down to get a better look…behind the urns in a nearly hidden display box was a bronze plated lizard of some kind…a salamander. The lizard had a beautiful image of flames etched onto its tail, with red gems poking out of its tiny eyes.

"Guys! I found it!" Riku called, startling Sora and causing Kairi to almost knock over an entire shelf of sailing trophies. The friends, however, didn't have time to celebrate, as the stone door slid open to reveal a thin, young man…his face simply appalled by the sight of them.