I asked Kari and I asked Quilla, but both of them
stared at me with innocent eyes, and replied who were they to inspire
the golden tongue of Rimac? Nor, indeed, did I ever learn whether Rimac
the Speaker was a spirit or but a lump of metal through which some
priest talked. All I know is that from one end of Tavantinsuyu to the
other he was believed to be a spirit who spoke the very will of God to
those who could understand his words, though this as a Christian man I
could not credit.
So it came about that some days later, with Quilla and Kari and certain
old men who, I took it, were priests or ambassadors, or both, I departed
on our journey. As we went the people wept around my litter for sorrow,
real or feigned, for we travelled in litters guarded by some two hundred
soldiers armed with axes of copper and bows, and cast flowers before
the feet of the bearers. But I did not weep, for though I had been very
kindly treated there and, indeed, worshipped, glad was I to see the last
of that city and its people who wearied me.
Moreover, I felt that there I was in the midst of plots, though of what
these were I knew nothing, save that Quilla, who to the outward eye
was but a lovely, innocent maiden, had a hand in them.
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