Evil Star

one false step, he would have fallen . . . and fallen. He felt as far up as he had been in the helicopter. Perhaps he was that high. He saw a herd of sheep or llamas grazing in the pampas at the very bottom of the canyon. To him, they were no more than pinpricks. There were no trees here to protect them from the sun, and Matt could feel it burning his face and arms. He was nothing in this immense landscape. He could be soaked by the rain or fried by the sun. In his entire life, he had never Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star felt so insignificant.
    They walked for more than an hour, descending all the time. Matt could feel the pressure changing in his ears. How long had it been since breakfast? He had no idea, but he knew he couldn't go on much longer. His legs were ach-ing and his feet — despite the new sneakers — were getting blisters. They turned a corner and Matt saw that the path had brought them to a platform of solid rock with steps leading down on the other side. He took a deep breath. It seemed that their journey was over.
    They had arrived.
    There was a miniature city built, incredibly, on the edge of the canyon. It wasn't a modern city. Parts of it reminded Matt of Cuzco, and he knew at once that it had been built by the same people, surely around the same time.
    First, terraces had been cut into the rock. These were the foundation of the city, and there must have been fifty or sixty of them, jutting out of the mountainside like giant shelves. Some of the terraces had been planted with crops, some were dotted with grazing sheep and llamas. The city itself consisted of temples, palaces, houses, and storerooms, all built out of blocks of stone that must have been carried at some time through the cloud forest and over the mountains. A great rectangle of grass ran through the cen-ter: a meeting place, a sports ground, the focus of everyday life. Matt knew instantly that there would be no electricity here, no cars, nothing from the modern age. And yet he wasn't looking at a ruin. The city was alive. There were peo-ple everywhere. They lived here. This was their home.
    "What is this place?" he whispered.
    "Vilcabamba!" Pedro replied.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star Atoc nodded slowly. "The lost city of the Incas. Many great men search for it. For hundreds of years, they search. But none have found it. Vilcabamba cannot be found. It cannot be reached."
    "Why not?" It seemed easy enough to Matt. After all, they had reached it without too much difficulty. The path that had brought them down the side of the canyon must be clearly visible. Anyone could follow it here. "The path ..." he began.
    Atoc shook his head. "There is no path," he said.
    "No. What I'm trying to say is . . ." Matt took a couple of steps back and looked round the corner again.
    Impossible ...
    The path wasn't there anymore. He couldn't go back the way he had come. The canyon wall was a sheer, vertical drop with no way up or down. The path that they had just taken, which they had walked down for more than an hour, had vanished.
    "Do not ask questions," Atoc said. "You have friends who wait for you."
    “Yes. But..."
    The Indian rested a hand on his shoulder and together the two of them walked round the corner. Pedro and the - other men had already gone ahead. Matt saw them walk through a stone archway and into the crowd. At the same time, a man appeared, climbing up the steps toward them. He was in a hurry. And he was white.
    The man drew closer and Matt felt a huge surge of pleasure and relief. He shouted out and ran forward.
    It was Richard Cole.

    Horowitz, Anthony - [Gatekeepers 02] - Evil Star

    Chapter 15 Last of the Incas
    "I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," Richard said.
    "Everyone's been very kind to me. These people are ... well, you'll find out for yourself. But ever since that mess in Lima, I've been worrying about you and telling myself we should never have come here. I blamed myself for that and I was afraid I'd never see you again."
    "So where are we?" Matt asked.
    "This city is called Vilcabamba." Richard shook his head in wonder.
    "It's one of the great legends of Peru, which is to say it's not even meant to exist! It's a bit like El Dorado. A whole lot of explorers have looked for it. Some of them thought they'd found it. And here we are, right in the mid-dle of it! Amazing!"
    Richard had taken Matt to the small, stone-built house on one of the upper terraces of the city, where he had