ismenin | Inca: Scourge of the Sun

If anyone would like to make a manip of Lizhe out of this for me - I'd be very grateful! Hugs flist.

And my apologies if you've been getting Regency in your notifications - LJ is being an arse,and posting it here instead of the domlijah even if press the right button!!

Anyway, before it gets too hawt to think, here is.........

Thanks to Lady Sunrope for beta. :D

***PLEASE remember this is an ALTERNATE REALITY story, and what happened to the Inca people in Real Life has nothing (or very little) to do with what happens here. Hugs***

Part 3 - The Play's The Thing...

Dom nodded at the soldier and moved forward; there was no time for prevarication. He gestured imperiously and said, "Father Guilliermo and Lizhe, follow me." And to Rimac and Yupanque, he ordered, in very bad Quechua, "you two, wait outside." It would not do to reveal that Dom, in the guise of Father Damian, spoke the language perfectly.

It had been decided that Will should be called by the Spanish version of his name. They did not feel he could remain undetected if called Will. There was only one Will in the country as far as they knew, and that was Will Boyd - and the Spanish wanted Will Boyd as much as they wanted the Sapa Inca.

So Will handed his pack to Rimac, and Lizhe, his to Yupanque, and both men followed Dom into the hut.

It would be churlish to call it a hut, for it was built of good strong stone with a thatched roof and a window, which cast its uneasy light on the pallet in the corner, the only furniture apart from a small travelling chest, in the room.

As Dom moved forward he could see that the figure lying still on the thin mattress was dying. The man had a pale, waxen look about him, and the smell of infection lay thick in the air.

"Capitan, here is a priest, thanks be to God!" said the soldier, stooping by the side of the recumbent man.

The captain opened fever-filled eyes. "I will make my confession, and then I will die. I leave to you, Sancho, the company and the quest. Come, Father, while there is still time."

Dom knelt and pulled out, from beneath his soutaine Father Manuel's plain wooden rosary, that had, for many years, reposed in the jewelled box at the mummified man's feet. The captain's eyes were fixed upon it as a thirsting man in a desert.

Dom did not hurry, even though the case was desperate. He heard the man's breathless confession, and saw Lizhe, sitting cross legged against the wall - and Will, standing next to him - looking upon the dying man with sympathetic eyes.

"...may God give you pardon and peace, and I absolve you from your sins in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit." Dom said in finest Latin, and the man closed his eyes and grasped Dom's hand.

"Thank you, Father. Now..." but the man did not finish the sentence; he died in the middle of the next word, a smile on his blue lips. Dom pulled the woollen blanket over him and made the sign of the cross, swiftly imitated by Will and the soldier who had met them, and Dom murmured a few more words in an undertone over the dead man.

"Thank you, Father," the soldier said from behind him, echoing his leader's words, his voice husky with emotion. "He was a good captain, and shall be missed. Father...what is your name? I am sorry, there has been no time for formalities. You must forgive me. I am Sancho de Vega, at your service."

The question had been anticipated. "I am Father Damian, and this is Father Guillermo." Dom did not introduce Lizhe, determining correctly that one did not introduce one's servants to men of supposedly higher standing.

Dom examined Sancho as he knelt beside his leader, doing those small things for him that were necessary before calling for the burial detail. The man was tall, with blond straight hair. He was handsome, in a worn kind of way, and obviously well born, for his uniform, although the worse for wear, was well made, and the accoutrements expensive. Dom could see his sword was a Toledo Salamanca, and quite the most expensive weapon he had seen since he gave Lizhe the one his cousin the King of Spain had sent for the Inca God-King, and which was, now, secreted in his pack.

Soon the new captain rose and gestured to Dom to leave the building. He went with alacrity, followed by Lizhe and Will - the smell was beginning to become unbearable.

Captain Sancho set up a shout and soon men came running out of the other houses. They stood in front of him - ten men in new uniforms, now dusty with travel. Captain Sancho sighed.
"Right, you ill-conditioned rabble. Captain Luis is dead. You three are the burial detail," he said, waving a finger at the three men on the end of the line, "and you, take the Fathers' things to one of the other huts - the one next to mine, I think. And the Captain's chest to my hut. Move!"

Captain Sancho turned to Dom and Will. "You will stay for dinner at least, Fathers," he smiled, "and you may tell me what you are doing in this god-forsaken place - for I perceive there is a story, as you have none of your priestly vestments to hand."

Dom was glad they had talked this matter over the first day they had left the Holy City. It would not do to be seen to be searching for an explanation.

"Indeed," Will contributed, "it will make interesting talk over the meats - and I do trust there are meats," the Scot grinned.

Dom was contented that Will's Spanish was flawless, and held little trace of the Scottish accent when Will tried to hide it. Ten years in the Highlands would account for it, if the Spaniards noticed.

"There are indeed, meats, Father," Sancho bowed politely, and they followed the Captain to dinner.

*******

The meal was progressing along amicable lines, with Will and Dom explaining how they had lost a native bearer down a particularly steep crevasse.

"...and he carried, as you noted, Captain, all our religious paraphernalia. So here we are, without cope or chasuble, censor or chalice. Unfortunate - but I think the Lord hears our prayers without them..."

Just at this moment, Rimac entered the room, and deferentially bowed on one knee besides Dom's stool.

"What is it, my son?" Dom asked in Quechua. Rimac's face was white, and he was visibly trembling.

"F...Father - one of the soldiers tried...tried to get Go...L..Lizhe to ...go apart with him, and when Lizhe...refused, he struck him...hard. Please come."

Dom swore loudly and fluently, and rose from the meal, still cursing. He remembered himself and bowed politely to the Captain, who shrugged his shoulders, and put a slice of roast llama in his mouth on the end of a fine dagger.

"It happens, Father. And if the man is good-looking, the men will want him. As you see, all the villagers have fled, and without women, the men are hot at hand. I am sorry..."

Dom did not stay to hear the rest of the speech, but strode out into the late afternoon sun as if Lucifer himself were at his heels.

He found Lizhe lying in Yupanque's arms in the small hut they had been allocated as servants quarters. "Get out!" he barked as the man who had caused the injury tried to explain, in defensive tones, why he had had to resort to such violence.

"We are their betters, Father - they must learn to mind us!"

Dom stared at him through a red haze. "Get out before I strip the flesh from your bones inch by inch with my teeth, you bastard!" The man cast Dom a frightened glance and left hurriedly. Dom sat on the floor next to Yupanque, who relinquished his burden.

The Sapa Inca, Lord and God of his people, lay unconscious in Dom's arms. There was a large bruise starting to bloom on the left side of his face, as if he had been struck by something- not a human hand.

Will has stayed behind to speak to the captain, but now entered the hut, and stared at Dom. With one violent movement he ran to Dom and pulled him forcibly to his feet, letting Lizhe fall onto the ground and pressed Dom against the wall, keeping him there with the back of one strong arm pressed against his chest.

"What is wrong with you, man? Are you cracked in the heid?" he hissed, his face so close to his friend's that Dom felt his hot breath on his cheek. "Ye will have us all deid!"

Slowly the anger died out of the Scot's eyes to be replaced with a look of resignation that was not lost on Dom. But Dom could not understand why Will had become so angered.

"Will...?" he managed, rubbing his arm where Will had nearly jerked it out of its socket in his anger.

Will shook his head. "Nae, Dom, not now. The captain is following. But I shall have something mair tae say on the subject later, on my life I will! Aye, my life! See tae Lizhe, but let Yupanque hold him, and dinna ye look at him like he’s the most precious thing in life, will ye? Else we are all deid men!"

Dom did not understand what Will was saying, or what had made him so furious with his dearest friend. Dom, always one subject foremost in his mind, turned back to Lizhe, who was now back in Yupanque's arms.

Rimac sat huddled against the wall, holding his arms tight across his chest for comfort.

"Tell me what happened," Dom asked without taking his eyes from Lizhe's face.

Rimac cleared his dry throat. "He...the man... said he wanted to lie with God. I did not completely understand all the words, for he used a form of Spanish I do not know, but I understood his actions. God stared at the man as if he were mad," Rimac whispered. "Then he ...God...tried to get away from him, and the man reached under God's skirt and..."

Rimac's voice failed him, and Yupanque continued in a voice equally filled with horror. "When God struck the man's hand away, that is when it happened. The man picked up a piece of wood and hit God with it, and he fell. The man will die. One cannot strike God and live."

Dom swallowed the thickness in his throat. "Look, he is stirring."

Will had found a cloth in his pack and had wetted it. Dom took it without a word and gently wiped Lizhe's face, pressing it against the bruised flesh.

"Come, my love..." he whispered, then as he heard the new captain's voice outside berating the man who had attacked Lizhe, he stopped to listen.

"Yes, and that may be, man, but you cannot rape every boy that takes your fancy. Did you not have enough in the last village? I do not think there was a boy under twenty there that you didn't have, and half of the older ones, too..."

Dom turned his face away in disgust as the captain entered the room. The man halted suddenly when he saw Lizhe, and had the decency to look somewhat shamefaced when Dom turned to him and revealed that disgust in his expresson.

Lizhe opened his eyes, and Dom put a finger on the bruised lips in warning. "You need not fear to be further molested, my son, for I am here to protect you."

He looked up at Captain Sancho, a rebuke in his eyes. “You will order your men to refrain from such behaviour in future, my son. It is against God’s holy laws."

Sancho rubbed his chin. "Well, that may prove difficult, Father - they either have the natives or the llamas, and we must eat, after all. I cannot say I relish eating an animal after it has been..."

Will made a sound of disgust in the back of his throat, and launched into a selection of harsh but necessary comments.
Lizhe spoke in a soft voice. "I cannot see properly. What is it, Dom?"

"Lie still. It will pass." Dom whispered in Lizhe's ear, using, as had Lizhe, the sound of Will's voice to cover his words.

The captain was suitably chastened by Will's acerbic diatribe, and offered any comforts they might have as a balm to the spirits of the two priests and their injured servant.

"If that man's bed-roll is not full of fleas, he can give it up for my servant to spend a more comfortable night. He owes him, and me, something more than common courtesy - I will be extremely inconvenienced without my man to assist me, I can assure you," Dom said, his voice full of withering scorn.

"Would some aqua vitae help?" asked the captain, his tone suggesting that he wanted to make some reparation to the priest, however small.

Dom nodded, and Sancho went off to find it, returning a few minutes later with a half filled flask.

"It's strong stuff. Don't give him too much, Father - they aren't used to it, these savages. If you'll excuse me, now, I have to see to my men."

After he'd bowed himself out, Will came close to Dom, his face still pale with suppressed anger. "How is he?"

"I am well, I thank you, Will," Lizhe murmured, his eyes closed against the light. He was not aware of the tension in the room or the impatient look in his eyes as Will stared at the back of Dom's head.

"The man will die," Lizhe continued, in the same quiet voice. "One cannot strike God and live. My father Viracocha will not allow it - that man will die."

"Be quiet, now." Dom soothed, putting the flask to Lizhe's lips. "Take a small sip or two of this and then you may rest. I will not leave you, I promise."

Lizhe choked over the brandy, and rested his head on Yupanque's shoulder. In a few minutes a soldier came in with a bed-roll. "The captain sent his own for your servant's ease, Father. You were right, he said, about the fleas. And do not think he will do without - he has, after all Capitan Luis's trappings."

Dom thanked the man, then, concerned over any sickness that may linger in the camp, asked from what cause the Captain had died.

"He and the - Captain Sancho - were leading their horses across the lower hills, and he fell on a steep track and slashed his leg wide open on a sharp rock. We did try to clean it - Captain Sancho poured half his flask into the wound - but it did not answer. The air here is not good, Father."

"Putrefaction set in, and he didn't last a week after it."
Dom said all that was necessary, and after the man had left, he told his companions to leave. "It will be crowded in here for us all. Do you, Rimac, go with Will to the house that was set aside for us. As you have Will with you, you should remain free from assault. But be careful, do not go out of the house alone, for that bastard is probably still on the prowl. If anyone approaches you when Will is not by, set up a shout. Either Will or I will come to you. Yupanque will stay here with us."

"Water," Lizhe said quietly, and Dom reached for the water pouch Will had given him. Dom had not missed, however, the warning glance in Will Boyd's eyes, as he left, and shook his head, wondering what was the matter with his dear friend.

The night passed undisturbed by any interference from either man or beast. Dom had heard the sounds of prowling animals coming from the thick undergrowth that surrounded the village, but nothing came near them. He had also heard the unmistakable sounds of drunken hilarity, and wondered what liquor the men had that there was enough for ten men to get drunk on it.

He had settled Lizhe on the thin mattress provided, made more comfortable by the addition of Lizhe's own on top of it, and he spent a comfortable night, waking occasionally to see if Lizhe required anything. He saw Yupanque lying against the opposite wall, his eyes open, staring out of the window as if he could not understand what had happened to Lizhe that day.

In the morning Dom was shocked to see the extent of the bruising on the pale face sleeping next to him. He took a moment or two to compose himself before he shook Lizhe awake. He knew nothing about medical matters, but remembered it was thought not good to let a man sleep after being struck unconscious.

Fortunately for his peace of mind Lizhe woke quickly, and said that he was much improved. "I can see only one of you today, Dom, when yesterday there were several."

Dom grinned. "We will stay here for another day, Lizhe - no, I insist. You cannot begin a long journey until I am sure you are well."

Lizhe smiled back. "It is a good thing for you that there is no door on this house, or I would lock it and bend you to my will, to teach you the obedience you owe to me as your God and king."

Dom's eyes sparkled with memory. "I look forward to the day when you can do so, my Lord," Dom said, his head bowed in submission before his master, then busied himself about the room as Yupanque stirred awake from his short sleep.

Later that morning Dom left Lizhe in Will's care and wandered about the village a little to see what information he could gather from the soldiers concerning their orders. Unfortunately it seemed they had been told nothing and referred him continually to their captain, so Dom knew that the person he needed to question was the newly promoted Captain Sancho de Vega. He found him with the horses.

"Good morning, Father. How is your servant this fine day?"

Dom patted the side of the fine bay mare Sancho was grooming. "Better, I thank you, but still not yet fit to travel. We will remain here for another day or two, perhaps."

Before he had a chance to put his own questions, the captain forestalled him. "If it is not an impertinence to ask, Father, where are you headed?"

He watched the man saddle his horse, and a trooper came up to saddle the other three mounts.

"The mission at Santiago is closed now, as you might know, Captain. I am charged with beginning a new one in the east. Wherever the hand of God falls, I will form it. Where are you bound?"

The captain kneed his horse gently in her side and tightened the girth. "I am searching for a City in the Hills where we have been told this God-King lives when he is not at Cuzco, damn the wily heathen sod! This country is not what I like, nor my men, either. The main company lies west of here; we meet up with them tomorrow or the next day, then travel north."

"We'll need their numbers - three hundred or so trained fighters there are, with guns and cannon. We'll need them I have no doubt - this Inca is supposed to be a hard bugger to cross. He must be a bloody tyrant. His people fall flat on their faces with their hands over their ears, at the mere sound of his name. They would rather die than say anything." He took a deep breath, and his face took on a dry look of what seemed to Dom to be disapproval. "Some have already died."

He mounted, and the men quickly came to order behind him. "We must go, Father, our commission lies heavy upon us. I will be glad when we have him safe and in chains, and any others who may know the true story of what happened to Dom Domingo - the murdering bastards! The Holy Father and the King have ordered all who might know be sent to Spain for the Dom's father to interrogate - Master William Boyd be next on the list after the Inca king. And I hear the new Inquisitor General in Madrid is a tougher bastard than ever was Torquemada. God speed, Father," the man said as he twitched his reins, and Dom, mindful of his role, sketched a cross in the air and uttered a benediction upon the departing group.

As soon as they had disappeared Dom went back to Lizhe. He found the three other men there, and after they had broken their fast on some of the meat the troopers had kindly left them, Dom informed his friend what the captain had had to say to him.

"God's teeth!" Will spat, as he never needed, since saving Lizhe from imprisonment by Tupac, to moderate his language with the Inca. "And Lizhe here, being the bonniest and gentlest king I've ever met, and aye, Rimac, lad - I've met a few in my time. God's teeth, I say!"

Dom could see that Will was still far from calm, and wondered again what it was that concerned him. His behaviour of the previous day had been so unlike Will, usually the most sanguine of men. He resolved to speak with him when the time was more convenient for serious discussion.

Lizhe was silent for a few moments, then he spoke in a troubled voice. "Why do they tell these lies about me and my people, Dom? Who are the people that do these things? My rule is not easy on the people, it is true - but I never kill from malice, only from duty. The people know the laws and they keep them. We have no prisons such as you have told me of. People obey God as it was meant to be - and I love my people. Even when I am forced to chastise or punish them..." He stopped. Dom thought he knew what Lizhe was going to say, but his love had gone pale, as he always did when remembering that day on the mountain, in the Holy Shrine.

Will, it seemed to Dom, had thrown off his unaccustomed moodiness, and set himself to tease Lizhe out of his perplexity, and soon Rimac and Yupanque, safe now the troop had gone, set out to find more food so that they could save the dried provisions they had in their packs against a time when there would be none available.

Dom took Lizhe's hand. "They have gone to find a quiet place for love. It is a pity you are not well, Lizhe, for..."
The Inca smiled at his lover. "Lie beside me, Dom, for I would feel your warmth against me. There is more than one way to show love - and you do this in every way, every day that you live. Come, let me hold you."

And Dom laid down and rested in the arms of the person he loved before all men, and they both gained comfort from the closeness.

Will stared down at them, an expression of great sorrow and distress in his usually cheerful green eyes, and went out to scout the surrounding terrain.

When, an hour later, Rimac and Yupanque returned with grass in their hair and giggling mightily, it was seen that both men carried a cuy in each hand. "There are dozens of them penned in the wood, Dom! The soldiers were idiots that they could not see them."

He quickly despatched the creatures and drew them, Dom looking distastefully at the process, but Yupanque efficiently stripped off the fur and then went off to find the cooking pots in his pack. "For they are better cooked in a pot if we cannot roast them," he said with an insouciant grin.

Will had found some vegetables that looked uncommonly like potatoes, only sweeter, so they had a filling and pleasant meal together, and as Will mentioned nothing of his previous anger, Dom thought it best to say nothing, yet, concerning the matter.

Lizhe was feeling much better by evening, so he and Dom wandered about the village a little, looking into the houses and examining the buildings.

"I think these villagers are very poor, Lizhe," Dom said in a concerned voice. "If the soldiers came upon them suddenly, they had little time to flee - and it seems to me they have left no possessions behind because they do not have any possessions. What say you?"

Lizhe nodded. "I think, when we are settled, Dom, that you should look into things here. Send out leaders to search into matters. You, in your position as Lord of the quipu-camayoc, allot this village the same allowances as every other village of this size in the Tiwatinsuya, do you not? There has been mismanagement here, or worse."

They walked about checking things until dusk fell. Then turning to retreat to their hut for the night, Lizhe saw a small child, dressed in a ragged skirt, standing half hidden behind a tree.

He knelt immediately and said, "Do not hide from us, little one - we mean you no harm; Come!"

He held out his arms, smiling and the child walked towards him and he enfolded her in a warm embrace.

Dom looked to the place from whence she had come, and saw a few women standing there, afraid, undecided as to what to do. "We will not hurt you," he said in his fluent Quechua. "The soldiers have gone from here. You need not be afraid, we are friends." He then had an inspired thought. "God has asked me to visit you to hear your complaints. Will you tell us what has happened here?"

One of the bolder women came forward and knelt before the two men. She did not seem afraid. "God sent you to us?" she said in a quiet voice, her head bowed. "He knows how badly our leader has treated us here?"

Lizhe still held the child in his arms so Dom reached down a hand to the woman and lifted her up.

"The men are afraid to come - afraid they will be sold to the strange soldiers by the head of our Allyu. He is not a good man, and treats us ill. We do not have enough food and he has kept our cuy in the woods and eats them himself. The children are hungry..."

Lizhe put the child down and stood up, trembling. Dom could see he was in a towering rage however well he hid it from the women who came towards them, now, timid and unsure. Lizhe spoke to the women.

"God knows of your troubles. He has sent us to help. Father Damian, here, has spoken with God himself, and carries his will and his word. Where is your leader?"

Will appeared, followed by Rimac and Yupanque, and the women seemed reassured to see two more of their own people coming towards them.

"He has fled from the strangers, but we fear he may return to treat us ill again," the spokeswoman said, in fearful tones.
Lizhe looked at Dom and said a few words in Spanish which the women would not understand.

"Díles que nos traigan a los hombres," tell them to send the men to us...which Dom repeated in Quechua.
One of the women fled to obey Dom's words and soon there were twenty or so men of various ages and strength standing before them.

Dom lifted his head from another hurried conversation with Lizhe.

"God has spoken to me. He told me that this village is no longer to be under the leadership of an unrighteous man. If he comes here again, you may bind him and prevent him from harming you, and you may keep him bound until he relents. I shall later show you the quipu God gave me recording these orders, and leave it with you so that you may show anyone who asks to see it. It is knotted on the red and gold string of the Sapa Inca himself, and may not be gainsaid."

"But for now, return to your homes, and prepare the cuy for your supper - but be sensible - keep enough to breed them, so you may produce others. Go in peace," he said sketching a benediction in the air. The people came forward slowly, but seemed more confident, after hearing Dom's words.

Lizhe grinned as they went back to their hut. "It seems, Dom, that you are much enjoying your role as a priest. Do not immerse yourself in it so deeply that I cannot make love with you tonight, for I need you.”

“I enjoy the playing of it, I admit,” Dom replied, “but to embrace the celibate life? With you so near? Madre de Dios! I do not have such strength!”

He said the words so fervently that Lizhe had to choke back laughter as he stepped, with Dom, inside the dwelling.