Free Monthly #29 Cin'Aps (Part 2: Peak's Side)

Something's up at the top of the mountain!

Introduction

Welcome to the continuation of Cin’Aps, where something strange is happening at the top of the mountain!

This is Part 2 of 3 and you’ll be able to check this link to find the whole story as it drops! And no, I totally didn’t adjust the last two paragraphs of part 1 this morning either.

Cin’Aps (Part 2: Peak’s Side)

We cooked, ate, and enjoyed a calm and quiet night of sleep. When morning came, Dad and his assistants were the first to rise. I was the next, followed by Jen.

Andre and Oliver were packing with Dad while the last assistant, Paul, was boiling water for coffee. Paul had been on the receiving end of the prank the night before and after exchanging a few words, his views on the other two assistants were made clear. I didn’t think it wise to explain to Paul that his mentality made him a target for practical jokes, so I let Jen steer the conversation to the upcoming hike.

Paul explained that we’d need to hike another mile to Cin’Aps and what to watch out for while hiking. “The stone will be slippery. There’s a bit of moss of all things to watch out for as well, but I’ve never had issues with it. The Dr. nearly broke his arm slipping, though, so you’d all better be careful.”

“We will.” I replied absently, watching as he poured the fresh coffee into two metal thermoses. Or was it thermosi?

Before my mind could stray further into thought, Jen asked, “Are you not coming?”

“Not right away, no. I have a few tests to run while everyone is away. Would appreciate the peace and quiet while I do so.”

“Is it about everything moving around?”

“Yes.” Paul’s short retort ended the flow of conversation.

The remaining coffee ended up in three mugs and two metal cups. He handed the cups to us and carried the mugs to his colleagues.

“Any coffee left?” Harry asked with a stretch, catching me and Jen off guard.

I opened my mouth to reply, but Paul beat me to it. “I can make more.”

Harry yawned, nodded, and said, “That’d be appreciated my good sir.”

“Do you mind getting another can of water? It’s in the vestibule.” Harry made to go to the entrance. “No, the other one. Towards Cin’Aps.”

“Ah.” Harry turned and bumped into Finn and Debby.

“Watch it!” Debby demanded.

“Some of us need coffee to properly ‘watch it’.” Harry snapped back.

We were off to a great start. The people who apparently needed coffee the most were busy bickering while those of us with coffee watched. After an hour, though, everyone was caffeined up and ready to depart.

“Good luck Paul.” Oliver said as he shut the door midway through Paul’s inaudible reply.

Dad frowned. “You two should really not be so rude to him.”

“Top marks make him our top mark.”

“A poor excuse. Just because he got more out of research than you two doesn’t imply rudeness is deserved.”

Chastised, Oliver and Andre led the way to Cin’Aps while Dad took up the rear, talking animatedly with Jen the whole way. The rest of us took gazed at the vistas in stunned awe. There was a magical mist about the mountains that gave the morning a mysterious edge.

Halfway to the site, there was a small tunnel heading through the mountain. The ground and lower third of the walls looked mostly natural but the rest of the tunnel was clearly chiseled to five feet high. Most of us had to bend over awkwardly as we proceeded in the dimly lit shaft. To our relief, the passageway was only a few dozen feet long with a singular bend in it.

At the other end of the tunnel, we climbed up the side of a boulder as the stairs were hidden by the large stone in the distant past. We continued on the northern side of the mountain and I made a mental note to thank Paul for the warning to be wary of the moss. Some sections of the steps were more precarious than others, so much so that a wrong slip would send someone careening to their death a hundred feet below.

“We’re here!” Oliver called out but I couldn’t see him. “Ten thousand feet up and into the past!”

I continued up the steps to a large ledge. The rock on either side was cut back to act as an entrance threshold to Cin’Aps. I halted before remembering others were behind me and shifted out of the way as I stared at the wondrous place.

We stood at the eastern side of the site. The ruins of buildings in grid like formality scattered throughout the moss riddled site six steps below us. The side of the mountain held three springs with water slowly running down into pools on the south side of Cin’Aps. The northern end rolled smoothly up a few feet as if to hide the place from prying eyes. Directly across from us was a cave.

The remnants gave the impression of at least a hundred different rooms having existed at one point. The tranquility of the place, the lack of sound, save the faint whisper of a whistling wind, made me weak at my knees. I saw similar reactions with Debby and Jen who both sat on the ground. Peering around at everyone else, I found Harry wearing a dumbfounded expression and Finn to be frozen in place. Dad, Oliver, and Andre took the sight in, but the shock of first gazing upon the ruins had long since faded from their reactions. They had been living up here after all.

“Spectacular, isn’t it?” Dad asked.

“It’s like Machu Picchu, but, different.” Jen responded, wonder still etched in the fiber of her being.

On an impulse to impress, I spoke up. “Machu Picchu means old peak or mountain, doesn’t the name ‘Cin’Aps’ mean peak something?”

“Peak’s side, actually. We believe this was a religious sanctum of some kind hidden away from their society.” Oliver explained. “It has no signs of being Inca or their contemporaries. Whoever built this place was influenced more by what we know of the Caral-Supe than anything. The Norte Chico that is.”

“Or they may have been the ancestors of that civilization.” Dad inserted as he brushed past Oliver to the front of our party. “No matter the reality, we know little and haven’t started digging or anything to find enough pottery, tools, and other items to clue us in on who these people were and what they were doing.”

“What about the artifact? Where did you find it?” Harry inquired. “It couldn’t have been lying on the ground.”

“It was, in the cave but it was, just lying on the ground.”

“Like you didn’t need to unearth it?”

Oliver beat Dad to the answer. “Yes.”

“The air is clear up here.” Andre offered.

“Precisely. Even in the cave, there’s not much besides moss and water and the occasional rock or ruin covering things.” Dad looked back at us. “But that doesn’t mean things are hidden beneath the mossy earth here.”

“Where’d the dirt come from?” Finn inquired.

I didn’t catch Dad’s answer as I saw someone shift behind a corner column near the western spring. My eyes focused on them and I caught a glimpse of a man drop out of sight. I opened my mouth to say something but Debby grabbed my shoulder. “Careful Russ.”

“Huh?” I blinked and looked at her. She was behind me. It took me a moment of looking around to realize I had walked forward to the edge of the eastern threshold to Cin’Aps. “Why?”

“Russell, what did you see?” Dad’s soft and scared tone caught me by surprise. As I’ve said, he rarely broke his monotone, even in moments of emotion.

I peered back out to where I saw the man, looking for his bare brown lanky limbs against the greenish gray of the rock behind the ruins. Whoever was there was gone, or I’d imagined them. “I think I was imagining it.”

“What? What did you see?!” Dad’s imploring voice brought panic to my inner being.

“A p—person. Just there.” I pointed. “But they’re gone. I’m not sure I ev—”

“On it!” Oliver called as he sprang down the stone steps and across Cin’Aps. Andre followed, pulling a tranq pistol as he went.

“What’s going on, Dad?” Debby’s anxious words echoed louder than they should have.

“I’ll explain in a moment. Just watch for anything unusual.” Five uneventful minutes passed before he spoke again. “We think there’s a sneak messing with our stuff.”

“Who?”

“When we catch him, we’ll know.” Dad replied. He sighed, “I was hoping our change in numbers would keep whoever lurks here at bay. We first caught a glimpse of him a few days ago and I considered sending word for you to not come, but we’ve not got the best connection to the outside world here.”

In the corner of my eye, something moved up the sheer side of the mountain. A cracking groan came from behind a loose rock. My animal instinct kicked in and I shouted “MOVE! MOVE! MOVE!!”

We narrowly evaded the car sized stone as it collided with the path before shattering into a dozen smaller pieces. When the dust cleared and our brains caught up with what had happened, dread ran through out bones. The path was blocked, we were trapped in Cin’Aps.

To Be Continued Next Week

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