Gold of the Gods by Bear Grylls Page B

slowly
began to stand, the points of their spears
facing towards the sky and no longer
towards Gonzalo and his men. Suddenly
there was a flash, followed by a bang and a
puff of smoke. At once the sounds of the
jungle fell away, drowned out by the noise
of screaming and shouting. Gonzalo had
turned to face his men and was mouthing
angry words that Beck could not hear above
the noise. Then he felt an agonizing pain in
his left shoulder like the blow from a
hammer; his body crumpled and he
dropped to his knees.
    All around him was chaos. Musket
muzzles flashed every few seconds as
Gonzalo's men disappeared behind clouds
of smoke. And now somebody was dragging
him back along the path towards the village.
His shoulder had gone numb and he could
feel blood seeping through his fingers as he
tried to cover the wound with his hand. He
was among the palm trees near the entrance
to the village when the arms that were
pulling him suddenly went slack and a Kogi
man fell down beside him. His eyes were
closed and his head hung limp, slumped on
his chest.
    Beck dragged himself towards the trunk
of a nearby tree and lay against it, breathing
heavily. Some villagers lay writhing on the
ground beside him, circles of bright red
spreading out over their white tunics. A
woman with a young child in her arms, her
face contorted in grief, was pulling at his
arm as other villagers tried to drag her away,
pointing desperately towards the forest.
    Beck's head swam, and for a while he lost
track of what was going on around him.
When he came to, Gonzalo's men were
running past him into the village. Flames
were leaping from the thatched roofs of the
huts and acrid smoke was billowing into
the sky.
    And now Beck was being pulled along
the ground once more. But this time it was
Gonzalo's men who were dragging him,
shouting, cursing and spitting. His shoulder
felt like it was being stabbed repeatedly with
a knife; then he was thrown roughly to the
ground in the centre of the clearing. He
watched helplessly as Gonzalo strode into
the burning village and one of his men
pointed towards where Beck was lying.
    Gonzalo was standing over him now,
staring down into his face. Beck could see
every detail of the conquistador's features.
The painting in the ballroom of the Casa
Blanca, the statue in the square and the
portrait at the hacienda had caught the likeness
well. But there was something they had
all missed. The nobility of the features
had gone; cruelty curled on Gonzalo's lips
and glinted in his eyes.
    Now he was kneeling down beside Beck,
clutching something in his fist. As he lifted
his arm, a gold chain flashed in the sunlight.
The familiar features of the toad amulet, its
eyes bulging, its stomach bloated, its mouth
gaping, stared back at him.
    For a moment Gonzalo dangled it in
front of Beck's face. Then he knelt closer
and whispered in his ear.
    ' Perdido no más ,' he said.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN
    Beck was drifting in and out of sleep. After
his journey in the world of Aluna, the
muffled chanting of the Kogi Mamas had
soothed his troubled dreams and the slow,
rhythmic beat of a drum calmed the thump, thump, thump of his racing heart. Now, the
distant babble of voices had lapsed into
silence once more.
    Beyond his closed eyelids, he could dimly
see the light of morning and smell the freshness
in the cool air. The raucous crowing of
a cock broke through the quiet and he
realized that a voice he recognized was calling
his name. For a few delicious moments
Beck thought he was back home again on
Uncle Al's farm in the country. Aunt Kathy
was calling him down to breakfast and he
could smell frying bacon and freshly baked
bread.
    But now someone was shaking him and
gently slapping his cheek and he sat up with
a start. ' Buenos días , Señor Granger,' said the
voice. 'Sleep well?' It was Christina.
    Beck wiped the sleep from his eyes and
looked around. Sunlight was pouring
through the entrance of the hut. But everything
had changed since the previous
evening. The