Gold of the Gods

by Bear Grylls

  The figure in the stone chair rose slowly to his feet.

  Then it spoke.

  'Buenos días, amigo,' snarled Ramirez.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Beck's head was thumping and bright lights like laser beams bored into his head. His mind was a blur and he was struggling to remember where he was. Who he was. A fight scene was going round and round in his head. Men were shouting and he was struggling to release his arms. He broke free and was running hard, his lungs about to burst. And then? His memory went blank.

  He could feel hard rock under him and his limbs ached. A noise like a dentist's drill was screaming in his ears. Every time he tried to move, the noise grew louder, the lights flashed brighter, his head thumped harder. As he attempted to raise his arm to rub his aching head, he felt the sharp steel of handcuffs digging into his wrists.

  Struggling to sit upright, he let out a long agonized groan. A blindfold had been tied too tightly around his eyes and was digging into his temples. The sound of dripping water echoed in his ears and there was a smell of dampness in the air. At last the thumping in his head began to slow and his mind began to focus on other quieter sounds nearby. The regular rise and fall of breathing. He was not alone.

  'Beck. Beck, is that you?'

  The voice was unmistakable.

  'Uncle Al?'

  'Beck. Beck, my boy. What are you doing here?' Uncle Al's voice was trembling with emotion. Beck felt tears welling up in his eyes. He tried to speak but his uncle and Mayor Rafael were both talking at once. A flood of questions washed over him. Was he all right? Were the twins with him? How had he found them? Was there a rescue party on its way?

  In between spasms of relief and despair, Beck tried to explain everything as best he could. Mayor Rafael gasped in amazement when he told them the story of Gonzalo's map and the golden toad. Then Beck explained how they had escaped from under the noses of Ramirez's men and described their voyage down the coast aboard the Bella Señora and the shipwreck near the Kogi village.

  At last both men fell silent as Beck told them the story of Mama Kojek, of his journey into the spirit world of Aluna and his discovery of the true story behind Gonzalo's golden amulet. Mayor Rafael let out a stifled cry when Beck explained how the twins had been left stranded on the other side of the river when the Kogi bridge had collapsed. A hushed silence fell once again when he told them about the final disastrous encounter with Ramirez.

  At last Mayor Rafael spoke.

  'Ramirez has been planning this for years. He was always asking questions about Gonzalo. Once he realized I was setting up an expedition to find the Lost City, he knew he had to act or his chance would be gone.'

  'How did you know where to find the city without Gonzalo's map?' asked Beck.

  'I've known about the map for years,' said the mayor. 'A few weeks ago I finally discovered the hiding place, but it was too dangerous to let anyone know. It was a secret even from Maria and the twins. But when I heard that Professor Granger was in the country, I thought the time was right to mount an expedition. Once we discovered the Lost City, the looters would have lost their chance. But I hadn't reckoned on Ramirez. That was my big mistake.'

  'So you told Ramirez where to find the city?' asked Beck.

  'I didn't tell him about the map. But I had already hired porters and a team to make the expedition into the jungle. One of them was in Ramirez's pay. So he knew I had a good idea where the city was, if not how I knew. All that was needed then was to stage a kidnapping and make it look like he had nothing to do with it. After that terrible night in the square, we were held in a prison cell by Ramirez until I agreed to help him find the city.'

  Beck heard a stifled cough, as if the mayor were choking back tears.

  'I was so worried about what he might do to Maria and the twins. I had no choice.'

  'So how did you find the city?' asked Beck. 'And how did you get here?'

  'No one believed it could be reached by sea,' Mayor Rafael continued. 'The mountains are too sheer and the jungle too thick. It is a miracle you managed to survive. I believed that the only way in was from the other side of the mountain. Ramirez's men have a helicopter base there. It's officially for hunting the drug barons and destroying their crops. So once Ramirez had forced the information out of me, it was easy. The police have infra-red cameras and they scanned the jungle for days. Finally they found it and we were dropped off by helicopter.'

  A heavy silence fell, broken only by the sullen dripping of water from the roof of their prison. Then Uncle Al was speaking again.

  'Beck, we are all in great danger. Once Ramirez has found the gold, he plans to kill us. Kidnappings happen every day in Colombia. People disappear for months, sometimes years. Ramirez will keep up his smoke screen. If our bodies are recovered, he will simply blame the drug barons.'

  Beck was fighting despair. They had survived against all the odds and now it had come to this. He was mumbling about how they mustn't lose hope for the twins' sake and how they would find a way— Then a blinding headache suddenly crept up on him and everything went black.

  In the darkness he lost all track of time. His nightmares returned. He was back in the burning Kogi village: screaming women and children scattered around him, desperately trying to escape the slashing swords of Gonzalo's conquistadors. Once more he was gazing into the eyes of the golden toad . . . Which in turn changed into the reptilian eyes of Ramirez . . . Which in turn changed into the eyes of Mama Kojek . . . Which were now turning—

  He woke with a jolt. There was a sound of boots on stone and someone shoved him hard in the ribs. Two voices were raised in anger and there was a quick exchange in Spanish. Mayor Rafael let out a stifled laugh. 'Ramirez can't find any gold. All this – and for what?'

  His words were followed by a curse and Beck heard the sickening thump of a boot crunching into the mayor's stomach. He flinched as the mayor let out an anguished scream that echoed around the cave.

  And now Beck was being dragged to his feet.

  'Vamos, Inglés,' hissed a voice in his ear as he was pushed roughly forwards.

  'Be brave, Beck, my boy!' Uncle Al's echoing voice faded behind him as he was bundled out of the room. After sitting down for so long, Beck almost fainted as the blood rushed from his pounding head. He could see shafts of sunlight through his blindfold – their angle, along with the smell of the jungle, told him that it was already evening. Men were shouting to each other in Spanish and he could hear the ringing clink of metal on stone and smell the odour of freshly dug earth.

  He was being pushed up a series of stone steps, and when he slipped and stumbled, he was dragged roughly to his feet again. Then he was brought to a halt and someone started fumbling with his wrists as his handcuffs were unlocked. His hands were numb and he felt a stab of pain in his fingers as the blood rushed back into them.

  The next minute his blindfold was removed. Beck blinked and gazed around. Mountain peaks circled him on all sides. It was almost dark now and a glowing ember of orange light was dropping over the horizon as a blood-red sunset lit up the sky. He was standing on one of the high, circular terraces he had seen when he was climbing the staircase of a thousand steps, and was now looking out over the jungle canopy below. Searchlights lit up the night sky, and around him men were scanning the ground with metal detectors and digging into the soft earth.

  But something else caught Beck's eye. The outline of a huge rock was silhouetted against the red sunset. It stood to one side of the terrace on its own simple platform. There was no mistaking that familiar outline. He had first seen it bobbing above the crowds at the carnival in Cartagena, then on the coat of arms of the mayor's family crest and finally in Gonzalo's golden amulet.

  He remembered Mama Kojek's words. This was surely none other than la rana, the toad stone, the sacred fertility goddess of the Kogis. And quietly sitting on its head between the two raised discs of its bulbous eyes was Ringo.

  'Buenos días, amigo.'

  Beck spun round. Ramir
ez was staring at him with a look of undisguised malice. He barked an order and the two flunkies who had bundled him out of his prison began frisking him. One of the men gave a shout and the belt carrying Gonzalo's map was roughly pulled out from around his waist. A satisfied smile crossed the police chief 's face. Studying it briefly, he handed it back to the flunkies, who started pointing out over the terraces and shouting orders to the men digging below.

  But Beck could not help himself now. He felt nothing but contempt for Ramirez. 'Oro no más,' he spat. 'The gold is gone.' As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Beck wished he had stayed silent. In a fit of rage Ramirez strode towards him and, grabbing him around the neck, lifted him clean off the ground.

  The moment the policeman's fist closed around his shirt, Beck knew it was all over. A ghastly smile spread over Ramirez's lips. Feeling Gonzalo's amulet under Beck's shirt, he slowly lowered him to the ground.

  'El oro de Gonzalo, por favor,' he said quietly, motioning to Beck to remove the amulet from around his neck.

  Beck knew he had no choice. Slowly undoing the top button of his shirt, he lifted the golden toad from around his neck, letting it swing slowly from side to side in front of the police chief 's face.

  Ramirez's face was twisted in a ghastly smile, as if he had been hypnotized by the amulet: his eyes followed it back and forth. 'La rana!' he whispered, almost laughing. 'El oro de la rana! '

  Suddenly, his words were drowned out by a screech and a loud beat of wings. Ramirez was flailing at something above his head and feathers were flying all around him. Beck did not miss his chance. As Ringo divebombed the policeman, he put the amulet to his lips. And blew.

  In an instant there was chaos all round him. A ring of fire burst into life on the terraces below – flaming torches rose out of the jungle on all sides. Ramirez's men were shouting and running in all directions on the surrounding terraces as he barked orders from above.

  Seizing his chance, Beck dived over the edge of the terrace and made a run for cover. Ramirez's men had dropped their tools and were fleeing in every direction. Above him, silhouetted against the sky, Beck could see Ramirez pulling a gun out of a holster at his waist. Leaping from the terrace onto the platform with the toad stone, the police chief was soon scrabbling desperately at the ground beneath, a mad glint in his cruel eyes.

  Beck watched in amazement as a sea of white tunics surged up out of the jungle, lit by the blazing torches. The ring of fire was rising up on all sides, as if every tree in the forest were ablaze. Beck gazed down the staircase of a thousand steps. The statues on either side seemed to have come alive, the animals of the jungle climbing the stone steps alongside the Kogis.

  And then Beck's heart leaped. For at the top of the stairs under the ceremonial arch Beck spotted Mama Kojek, his eyes glittering. Then his heart skipped a beat once more, for there, just a few steps behind him, were Marco and Christina.

  Beck let out a shout and burst from his cover. Dodging the despairing clutches of Ramirez's bodyguards, he was soon hugging the twins and dancing a little jig at the top of the steps as the Kogis crowded around the three joyful teenagers. In front of them, Mama Kojek sat down in the stone chair under the archway. For the first time Beck could remember, the merest hint of a smile softened his stern features.

  And then, in the blink of an eye, it happened. One of Ramirez's men shouted a warning from above, and as they turned to look at him, a dark feline shape emerged from the depths of the jungle on the far side of the terraces. The creature moved so fast that to Beck it was like a shadow passing over the face of the moon. Like a coiled spring, it leaped from terrace to terrace, and in just a few strides it was closing on its prey.

  An ear-piercing scream tore through the jungle night as the teeth of the jaguar crunched into the policeman's skull. It was followed by a deep rumbling growl as the creature rose up on its hind legs, snarling in triumph at the moon.

  Silence fell once more. No one spoke. Beck and the twins stood rooted to the spot. High above them, la rana sat silhouetted against the night sky. Then Beck heard a sound like the slow drip, drip, drop of water from a leaking tap. He looked down to where the sound was coming from. A slow trickle of blood was dripping onto the staircase of a thousand steps.

  Ramirez, the reptile, was dead.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Beck was standing once more at the foot of the great staircase. But this time the twins were with him. Above them, stretching up towards the archway high above, Kogis with blazing firebrands lined the steps. The statues of the jungle animals had been cleared of vegetation and formed a guard of honour beside them. Eerie shadows flickered in the inky darkness as the jungle canopy closed in above them.

  Earlier that evening, after Ramirez's men had either surrendered or fled into the jungle, there had been a tearful and joyful reunion with Uncle Al and the twins' father. When they had all finally recovered, Mayor Rafael found a high-frequency radio on Ramirez's body and spoke to one of his staff in the mayoral office in Cartagena. A rescue party had been despatched.

  'I think Mama Kojek is ready for us,' said a voice in Beck's ear. Marco's face was lit up in a broad smile.

  'Time for the Younger Brother to make amends,' said Christina on his other side.

  They heard a loud screech. Beck turned to see Ringo perched on Mayor Rafael's shoulder behind them. Uncle Al stood to one side, looking a little bemused.

  'I'm sorry. I don't think you've been introduced,' said Beck. 'Uncle Al, Ringo. Ringo, Uncle Al.'

  'Jolly nice to meet you, Ringo,' said Uncle Al, grinning broadly and stretching out his hand.

  Ringo tilted his head, eyeing the stranger suspiciously before gingerly stretching out a claw and gripping one of Uncle Al's fingers.

  'Uncle Al, Ringo. Ringo, Uncle Al,' screeched Ringo loudly. Uncle Al raised his panama hat, smiling.

  'Well, at least he's remembered how to talk again,' said Marco. 'All he's done is screech ever since we arrived in the jungle.'

  And now the small group began the long climb towards the archway above. Beck led the way, Gonzalo's amulet hanging proudly on its gold chain around his neck. At each step, as they climbed ever higher, the Kogis on each side made a small bow of welcome. When at last they reached the archway, Mama Kojek rose to greet them. One by one, they stepped forward and bowed to him in turn.

  When they had finished, Mama Kojek began to speak, his white tunic shimmering in the torchlight. A look of astonishment crossed the faces of Uncle Al and the mayor as the Mama's words echoed inside their heads, his lips never moving. Beck gave the twins a knowing wink.

  'The Elder Brother greets the Younger Brother at the doorway to our sacred city. I speak to you for the first time in centuries from our ancestral home. These are the traditional words of greeting from the Kogi people to all those who come to visit us in our jungle dwelling. "Welcome to our home. When will you be leaving?"'

  Then Mayor Rafael stepped forward. 'Mama Kojek,' he replied in a strong, clear voice. 'My ancestor came to this place many centuries ago and took something that is rightfully yours. Today we are proud to return it to you.'

  'The treasure which you bring and which your ancestor stole from this place belongs neither to the Elder Brother nor the Younger Brother,' replied Mama Kojek. 'It is the blood of Mother Earth, which we all share, and to the Earth it shall return.'

  He raised his right hand high above his head, his palm facing forward in a sign of peace. As he did so, a sound like the moaning of the sea began to rise from the jungle below. Then he turned and walked back under the archway. Beck led the way forward, following Mama Kojek onto the terraces above. They were soon standing in front of the familiar outline of la rana, the Toad Stone.

  And now at last Mama Kojek's lips were moving as he began to chant in the Kogi tongue. All the Kogis who had greeted them on the steps below gathered around them in a great circle, their torches lighting up the night. The sound of the chanting seemed to Beck as if it were coming from the bowels of the earth
.

  He was standing behind Mama Kojek now, with the twins on either side. 'Chrissy,' he whispered suddenly. 'Before we do this, there's something I want to give you.'

  The twins looked at Beck with shocked expressions on their faces, as if he had been caught talking during a church service given by the Pope in St Peter's in Rome.

  Beck was fumbling for something in his pocket and at last produced a dirty-looking rag. 'I forgot to give you these back. Sorry I didn't manage the fish supper!'

  Christina took the damp piece of cotton from Beck's hand and slowly opened it. Inside, two gold question marks glinted in the torchlight. Christina gave Beck a quick hug just as Mama Kojek turned to address them once more.

  'Children of the Younger Brother. You have come here with a gift for Mother Earth. Your time is now.'

  Beck and the twins stepped forward to where a small alcove had been dug in the earth beneath la rana. The chanting around them rose to a crescendo. Beck took the golden amulet from around his neck and, with the twins on either side, stepped forward and lowered it into the darkness beneath.

  Then he turned and gazed deep into Mama Kojek's eyes.

  'Perdido no más,' he said.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Bear Grylls is a man who has always loved

  adventure. A karate black belt, a climber and

  an explorer, Bear was trained in survival whilst

  serving with the British Special Forces (21 SAS).

  After breaking his back in three places in a

  parachuting accident, he fought his way to

  recovery, and two years later entered the Guinness

  Book of Records as the youngest Briton to climb

  Mount Everest, aged only 23. He has since led

  ground-breaking expeditions across the world, and

  now hosts a worldwide TV series for Discovery

  Channel and Channel 4 called 'Born Survivor'.

  www.beargrylls.com