Thank you for reading!
PART FOUR
Rick carried Evy back to the centre square and sat with her on a bench while one of the village healers tended to her head wound. It was a solid, ugly lump and the cut looked bad enough but it wasn't serious enough to stop her for long.
Luis and Maria paced around angrily while she was tended to. They were enraged that Izzy had been taken and were trying to form a plan to attack the Quillya and get her back but Luis admitted to Rick that he did not know where the Quillya hid their temple. No one did.
The Priestess Kasani found them in the square and had tears in her eyes at the sight of Evelyn having been wounded. Once she found out that Izzy had been taken she absolutely erupted with anger. Her calm demeanour vanished.
"I will take you to the temple of my sister. I know the way." She stared up at the craggy mountains that could now be seen in the moonlight that shone brightly. "We will not have an easy time getting your daughter back... I recognize those Quillya warriors as the ones that followed my sister a thousand years ago. They have drunk of the spring and are also immortal. We cannot kill them."
Rick swore. His guns would have been no good anyway.
Evy struggled to stand up and was a more than a little wobbly once she did.
"Let's go. I want my daughter back before those monsters..." She could not finish the sentence. Everyone knew what she meant.
Rick held her close for a few moments and kissed her forehead reassuringly. He wanted to tell her that she couldn't come with them but he knew it was useless. She would walk into hell to get her daughter back and he was well aware of that. He decided silently he would carry her if he had to. They would get their daughter back. The Quillya warriors did not have that much of a head start yet if they moved quickly to go after them.
Priestess Kasani stared at Evelyn and saw the determination on the woman's face.
"Yes. Let us go get your daughter back and end this fight with my sister." The Priestess had such a determined look on her face that no one could deny her intentions were serious.
They all gathered what they needed and Kasani led them up into the hills and into the darkness. They left any torches behind as they wanted their arrival to be a surprise. Evy struggled at first, leaning heavily on her husband. She realized she was slowing them down but before she could say anything to start an argument about her ability to keep going, Rick silently picked her up and carried her in his arms as they ascended higher and higher. He would not deny her the chance to recover their daughter. He knew exactly how she was feeling at the moment. She had never truly appreciated his strength so much until that night.
They travelled for what seemed like hours until Kasani stopped at the edge of a bluff and stared down into a small valley. It seemed much more alive in terms of foliage than the valley of the Kuka but it was strangely silent. No birds, not even a breeze challenged the quiet. It was eerily familiar to both Rick and Evy as they sat and took a quick rest. There was a darkness to the area that they all felt while they waited for the Priestess to make her next move.
As she watched the valley, the moon crept over the range opposite them and a hazy glow started to form at the far north end of the valley. Kasani turned back to her clan and motioned for them to follow her. They had found the Temple of Quillya, the Moon Goddess.
It glowed the same hue as the idol had when they had first discovered it... had it only been yesterday? The eerie blue tone of the glowing moon lit up the temple that was actually quite beautiful to see if they ignored the darkness emanating from it.
Maria helped Rick support Evy and his wife managed to walk slowly with their support. She was still wobbly. They all made their way, surprising silently, down into the valley and approached the glowing temple with caution. They had seen no sign of the Quillya warriors but they would already be inside. They did have enough of a head start.
The Priestess gathered the leaders of the Cuka clan away from the others and spoke to them quietly for awhile. Maria turned to look at Evy and Rick with tears in her eyes at one point but then she looked quickly back to Kasani.
The O'Connell's waited not-so patiently as the discussion took place. Rick finally walked to them,
"I don't mean to interrupt, but my daughter is in there and I would very much like to get her back now." His eyes blazed in the moonlight.
"I will go alone." The Priestess Kasani spoke with her authority and walked towards the entrance of the temple.
"The hell you will..." Rick pulled the dagger he had been given and ran to catch up to Kasani to join her in the forthcoming fight.
Luis caught him and held him back and the two men started to scuffle. Kasani turned around, impatiently waved her hand and the two men flew apart and landed in the dirt. They both stared at her in shock.
"Perhaps you do not understand me. I will go alone. I will return your daughter and then I will deal with my sister for good. You have trusted me this far, I ask you to trust me a little further." Priestess Kasani glared at both the men who had seemingly forgotten how powerful she was. "Ka-Ata and the Quillya warriors are immortal. You cannot kill them. They will just keep rising against you until you and your daughter are dead. This I will not allow."
Kasani turned again and walked with purpose into the temple.
Rick stood up and brushed himself off. He turned to Luis and helped him to his feet.
"If she's not out with Izzy in ten minutes I'm going in." Rick walked back to where his wife was resting against a tree. Alex sat beside her holding her hand, looking worried.
"I will go with you when the time comes." Luis promised his friend as he followed Rick back to their wives.
Maria stood close to her husband as Rick crouched beside his wife and took her jaw in his hand to tilt her head to look at her wound. There was no fresh blood but the lump looked terrible and she was very pale. She would be no help in the temple and they both knew it.
"I'll bring Izzy back. I promise you." He spoke to his wife in a deep voice, full of emotion.
"I know Rick. Bring her back to me please." She held his hand against her cheek. "And don't do anything stupid like get yourself killed alright?"
He leaned close to kiss her slowly. Alex rolled his eyes at them.
"Alex, you stay here with your mother alright? I'll be right back with your sister." Rick stood up and looked at Luis. It hadn't been ten minutes yet but he wasn't waiting any longer.
"Dad, I want to come too!" Alex pleaded with his father.
"No Alex. Wait here with the Cuka, protect your mother and Maria. Here, use this if you have to." Rick entrusted his son with the long, sharp obsidian dagger that Luis had had given him during the festival attack.
The gift of the very-adult weapon was enough to let Alex know that the task appointed to him in protecting his mother was no minor one. He held the blade up and admired it. His parents stifled a smile at him in spite if the situation.
Luis quickly kissed his wife and she had tears running down her cheeks. They had a long unspoken rule between them that her life never be put in danger if at all possible as she was the heir to the valley. The future of the Cuka lineage rested on her and she knew it. She knelt down beside Evelyn and prepared to wait for a happy outcome of which she had very little confidence at that point.
Rick and Luis then turned and walked shoulder to shoulder into the temple. Luis tried to give him another dagger but he brushed it off. He wouldn't need it. The Cuka leader looked at him in surprise, unsure of what his plan was, but he would follow him all the way to Ka-Ata to get Izzy back.
The two men made their way down a long glowing hallway and were a bit surprised there were no guards. Luis mentioned that no Cuka clan member had ever been able to find the Moon Temple so they likely weren't expecting visitors. It was working to their advantage as they quickly went deeper into the temple. There was a long curving tunnel ahead of them and they entered it slowly, all senses firing on full. It wound inwardly and when they heard the sound of two women's voices shouting they hurried their pace.
Rick went into the inner temple first, Luis just on his heels, and he stopped suddenly. Luis bumped into him and stopped as well. The entire room was full of treasure, gold and jewels, riches he could never have imagined, and he had absolutely no interest in any of it.
He continued on and saw the two sisters locked arm in leg in a wrestling match. They hadn't noticed him or Luis yet. The Quillya Warriors had formed a loose circle around the women but one of them finally noticed Rick and shouted out. The Warriors all turned to face the invaders. As they spread out, Rick's heart was crushed as he saw his baby girl tied up to a large stone table. Ka-Ata suddenly got the upper hand on her sister and managed to get her into a headlock and both of the women stood up.
"What have we here?" Ka-Ata spoke at Rick, looking him over suspiciously. He was like no man she had ever seen before. So tall. With blue eyes? Blue eyes like the child. He must be the child's father, she thought. Such a brave man to come so far for the girl.
Rick held his hands out to the sides to show he was unarmed, for what it mattered, but it showed good faith. "I've come for my daughter."
Ka-Ata dropped her sister and signalled for the Quillya to contain her. The men and women grabbed the priestess and held her. The priestess of the dark Moon Goddess approached Rick slowly, looking him over intensely as she went.
"No. You have come for the gold." She was close to him now and reached out a hand to run a finger across his shoulder as she circled him. "I will give you all of this for the child."
"No. I only want my daughter." Rick did not waver before her. He stared at his daughter on the table. She was crying for him. The muscle in his jaw was twitching overtime as he tried to think of a way to get to her.
"You want to drink from my sacred spring. You want to be immortal. You would trade her to me for a drink." She stopped in front of him and tried to break his stare to his daughter. He looked right through her.
"I want my daughter back." Rick was steadfast. "Give her to me."
Ka-Ata laughed. "You are a strong one. No wonder your child is strong also, she will make a wonderful addition to my Quillya Warriors. I will send to her to kill the Cuka clan when she is grown. She will destroy all that you love in the valley."
Ka-Ata then smirked at Luis after she spoke. She recognized who he was, the co-leader of the Cuka. She hated him just on principle, him and his pretender wife who claimed to be from Kasani's line. The two who insufferably refused to give up the valley to her.
Rick suddenly stared her directly in the eyes. "My daughter would destroy you and you know it. Give her back to me."
While Rick was confronting Ka-Ata he could see over the shoulder of the false empress and behind the Quillya, that the water from the spring was starting to swirl in the air. Kasani was doing something to the water and Rick saw an opportunity. He kept taunting Ka-Ata,
"She has been blessed already by another Goddess. And I'm pretty sure that our Goddess could kick your Goddess' ass." Rick smiled wickedly at her, his eyes narrowed.
Ka-Ata paused for a moment and closed her eyes. She opened them wide and turned and screamed.
"NO!" The Moon Goddess' servant Ka-Ata had clearly just received confirmation from her mistress that the girl was untouchable.
As she rushed towards where the little girl had been bound to the table she stopped and screamed again. Kasani was standing there with Izzy in her arms and all of the Quillya warriors were trapped in swirls of frozen water. Kasani continued to wave her fingers and the ice continued to close in on all of them, effectively trapping them from helping Ka-Ata.
Ka-Ata charged at her sister and Kasani, in the blink of an eye, had put Izzy down and braced herself for her sister's attack. The two women clashed and the power of their collision shook them all. Izzy fell as she ran towards her father but Rick was there to pick her up before she bounced.
Rick stopped and stared at the women fighting until Kasani yelled at him to go. He did not need to be told twice. He held Izzy tight in his arms and turned and ran as fast as he could out of the temple, Luis just behind him. The last thing he heard from Kasani, as he ran out of the circular inner tunnel, was her shouting to tell Maria to have faith. The Goddess would smile upon her always.
Rick and Luis ran from the exit and into the fresh night air. The temple was pulsating as the battle between the sisters raged on within it. Rick ran to where his wife was now standing and she grabbed Izzy from him and held her so tight. Alex held his sister's hand as they consoled her, so happy to have her back in one piece.
Maria ran to Luis and embraced him, completely happy he had escaped. He told her what Kasani had said and Maria stepped away from him, took a deep breath and pointed her finger up at the snowy mountain peaks above the valley. She closed her eyes and started to mutter words from the very ancient language of the Gods.
Luis stared at her in shock. He had heard Kasani tell her what to do but he hadn't fully believed her powers until she was standing before him now. His wife was about to become the new priestess of the Cuka clan and he had never loved her more, and been more proud of her, than he did in that moment.
The group of O'Connell's stood near and watched Maria wondering what she was doing until they heard a rumble start from high above them. Up in the peaks a huge mass of snow started to tumble down the mountain side and then suddenly Maria collapsed.
Rick and Evy stared for a few seconds and then looked at each other quickly. Maria, with a power granted to her by her Goddess had started an avalanche with the intention of burying the Quillya valley. She had acted prematurely though and Rick put his daughter in his son's arms and picked up his wife. He turned back to the others and yelled... "RUN!"
Luis grabbed Maria who was still groggy from her first direct connection with Goddess Copacati and all of them started to run up the valley as the rumble from the mountains grew louder and louder.
The Cuka clan and the O'Connell's barely made it to the top of the ridge before tons of rock and then snow and ice filled the valley and deeply buried the temple and the sisters under it very effectively ending their influence on the people of the valley.
Rick had collapsed with Evy still in his arms and Alex collapsed beside him with Izzy. The four of them clung to each other, grateful to be reunited as they caught their breaths. When they had all recovered from the exertion they stood and looked back over the ridge. Where the valley had been only moments before could hardly be discerned now. The terrain was flat and without any indication of what lay beneath it.
Maria cried and Luis held her as they realized their priestess had been lost to them again. But this time for the greater good.
"It's what she wanted." Maria spoke once she regained control of herself, "She sacrificed herself to give the people of the valley a chance to prosper. She knew she would be trapped along with her sister but it was the only way. She passed her powers of the Goddess onto me. The Quillya will not bother us any more."
"She couldn't have chosen anyone better love," Luis spoke to her but all overheard. "You will lead our people to thrive again. Now the Quillya warriors will never bother us again, we can thank Priestess Kasani for that. And you."
"There's no way anyone, even a priestess or her sister, is digging their way out of that." Rick stood surveying the damage in the moonlight with his wife leaning heavily on him. "I'm sorry you lost her, but may your valley flourish now. You deserve it."
"Thank you." Maria was slightly comforted by the words of her husband and her friend. "Let's go back to the village. Perhaps we can still celebrate when we get back. The water has been returned and that is the most important thing."
Maria and Luis and all the Cuka clan took off at a fairly fast pace to get back to their village and the O'Connell's were happy to linger behind slowly. Izzy and Alex strolled ahead of their parents and Evy managed to go on her own two feet though Rick supported her. The bright moonlight lit their way well enough almost as a consolation prize that the moon Goddess Quillya had been defeated so soundly and now she was forced to light their way back to the village in her humiliation.
"Mum! Look what Izzy found!" The two kids ran back to their parents. Izzy cradled something in her hands and handed it to her dad.
He held it up in the moonlight and started to laugh. It was another cacao bean. He passed it to Evy and grabbed her and held her close as she examined it and smiled up at her husband.
"Another ceremony perhaps? To give thanks to the Goddess?" He raised his eye brows at her suggestively and pulled her closer yet.
"It might have to wait honey. I've got a splitting headache tonight..." He squashed her smile with his lips.
"Ugh. You guys. Just stop." Alex turned in disgust and took the hand of his little sister. She paused and watched her parents kiss and then copied her brother.
"Ugh!" She turned and went ahead with him.
Rick and Evy smiled at each other as they heard their son say to their daughter.
"You'll get used to that Izzy. They're doing it all the time. Stick with me, I'll protect you."
4 months later:
"I'll send shipments every chance I get as we discover more. I trust the valuables will be returned someday. There is no rush. It took us a thousand years to find most of them. A few years in a museum won't be missed." Maria stood looking at Evy as the family prepared to leave the village and eventually the country. "We trust you will bring honour our people."
"They're giving me an entire wing of the museum to display the artifacts of the Cuka clan. It's quite the big deal." Evy laughed with her friend as Rick loaded their bags onto the cart that would take them to the city of Cusco, from where they would continue their long voyage back to England and home. "You have my word everything will be returned. Perhaps in a few years it will give us an excuse to come visit you and Luis and meet whomever this will be."
Evy touched the tiny swollen belly of her friend with a warm smile.
"I hope the Gods bless us as they have you and your family." Maria smiled as Izzy and Alex ran around the cart and generally annoyed their father as he tried to get things loaded. "I hope you all remain as happy as you are."
Evy and Maria hugged one final good-bye and the woman went to kiss each of the children and then she embraced Rick warmly as well.
"Stay blessed Rick O'Connell." Maria told him with a wry smile. "May the Goddess always smile upon you."
"Same to you Maria. Be well. Take care of Luis for me hey?" Rick lifted his daughter onto the back of the cart and settled her comfortably. Alex climbed up beside her and held her hand.
Rick banged the back of the cart twice and the driver reigned the mules into motion. Maria turned to head back to the upper village and Evy was trying to contain her tears at their farewell.
Rick had gone back into the stable and Evy was wondering what he was up to. She didn't want the kids to get too much of a head start. He appeared at the doorway and instantly Evy started to laugh. He led the reign of a large fuzzy llama with it's baby slung to it's back. The smile on his face as he approached her dared her to challenge him on this one.
"Honey. You're not actually taking those beasts all the way back to England are you?" She kissed him quickly before they started walking behind the cart that hauled their truest treasures.
"You try telling her she can't bring it." Rick just smiled at his wife, knowing she had no intention of dealing with their daughter for the months-long trip home after being told she couldn't take her beloved llama with them. "Besides, perhaps I'll retire from adventuring and become a llama farmer."
"That sounds nice. Retirement from adventuring. I suppose now would be a good time to tell you the Bembridge Scholars have asked me to become one of them. The work we've done here is monumental in terms of discovering and documenting an entire civilization that dates back to the time of the Egyptian Pharaohs." Evy stopped and gazed at her husband's reaction.
"So we'll stay in England for awhile?" He leaned close to her, the llama over his shoulder chewed patiently.
"Until they need us for some field work. We can relax for a while, enjoy our home if Jonathan hasn't completely destroyed it. Focus on being parents and take care of us. I mean, how much trouble can I get into in the museum?" She smiled.
"Nothing I can't bail you out of." He kissed her slowly and tenderly until the llama nudged them apart. "I'm so proud of the librarian you've become."
They started walking, holding hands, as two more carts followed along behind them with the proof of civilization of the Cuka clan and their history packed into crates. What they didn't realize was that Maria had sneaked one more crate into their belongings. It was the perfectly preserved mummy that Luis had recently found near one of the temples in one of the old abandoned village. Evy had always spoken so longingly of finding one of their mummies to show her colleagues. It would have been the highlight of her display but unfortunately she had found only the one...
Maria and Luis had decided to surprise her.
Their journey home had begun and the O'Connell's had another adventure in their back pockets.
The end...
So here we meet again. Thank you if you made it this far and for following this adventure. Perhaps more in the future. We shall see.
Thanks again! xo
