robert Charrette - Arthur 02 - A King Beneath the Mountain by Robert N. Charrette Read Free Book Online

and plenty. The primitives were saddened when he announced that he could not remain among them, but they were cheered when he said that he would return. They waited for him, making his doings into myth and always remembering his promise to return. When the Spaniards came, the Aztec coast watchers mistook the shining armor of the soon-to-be conquistadors as his sign, their coming a fulfillment of the prophecy of his return. They were wrong, of course."
    Pamela knew how wrong the Aztecs had been. Mexico still groaned under the legacy of that fatal error.
    Nakaguchi shrugged. "And, of course, he is not a god. Godhood, for him, was merely the inspired awe of a primitive people who had no true understanding of his nature."
    Had Pamela heard correctly? "You said is. Is not a god."
    "Of course I used the present tense, Ms. Martinez." Nakaguchi turned back to the undecorated wall and ran his fingers along the edge of the hollow. "Quetzoucoatl is not dead. He merely sleeps, awaiting the time of his return."
    Nakaguchi detached a climbing hammer from his belt. Hagen stepped up to him and, disregarding all corporate etiquette, laid a hand on Nakaguchi's arm.
    "If you won't destroy it, at least leave it be."
    "Take your hand away," Nakaguchi said coldly.
    Nakaguchi's voice was hard as steel and sharp as broken glass. Hagen removed his hand and took a step back. Hefting the hammer in his hand, Nakaguchi stared at Hagen until the small man took another step backward.
    Nakaguchi turned back to the wall. Thrusting tool and hand into the darkness of the central aperture, he twisted his wrist to set the alloy spike against some unseen resistance. He tugged. A spidery crack ran from the edge of the hole. Nakaguchi tugged again. Powdery adobe exploded out as a stone shifted in the wall. Nakaguchi wrenched until he ripped the stone free from the wall to fall behind him. Attacking the wall again, he jerked and yanked until he tore another stone free, and another, until he had opened a half-meter hole. He peered through.
    "Azana, the lantern!"
    The Mexican stepped up. Pamela crowded closer as well. She had come this far to be in on the uncovering; she wanted to see. Azana shoved the lantern partially into the opening. Light speared into the space beyond, to be reflected in a dazzle of ruddy glints from something within the darkness. Pamela gasped when she realized she was seeing a golden face, serene and perfectly composed. Turquoise and emerald studded a headband from which a riot of plumage emerged. The regal face did not so much as twitch or lift an eyelid.
    "Quetzoucoatl!" Azana gasped.
    The Mexican jerked back and dropped the lantern, but Hagen caught it before it struck the floor.
    Nakaguchi attacked the wall with a will, ripping and tearing until he had removed enough of the stones to squeeze through. Pamela and Hagen exchanged worried glances. Nakaguchi's hand thrust back from the other side.
    "The lantern!" he shouted. "The lantern!"
    Hagen handed it to him, then squeezed through the gap himself. Pamela had no desire to meet a god, but neither did she want to remain behind with the cowering Azana. Wondering what sort of fool she was being, she slipped through the opening.
    Like the chamber on the other side of the wall, this one was plastered and painted. Nakaguchi stood in the center, bowing to the seated figure and throne that dominated the small chamber.
    The sleeper gave no sign of awareness.
    Pamela realized why: the gold visage was not a face but a mask. A death mask? She looked closer. The figure on the throne appeared to be enfolded in a cloak of feathers. Appropriate for Quetzoucoatl. Where the figure's limbs emerged from the covering they were sticklike and shrunken, like a mummy's. Was Nakaguchi wrong? Was his sleeper just another royal mummy? Such a find would have archaeological significance, but it was hardly the sort of thing the Charybdis Project sought.
    But it was the sort of answer Pamela preferred when told an ancient