Temple by Matthew Reilly Page A

isn't here.' He didn't add that
he was beginning to find the story kind of interesting and actually
wanted to read more of it. 'You're sure this is all we have?'

'I'm afraid so,' Nash said. 'Remember, this isn't the original
manuscript, but rather a half-finished copy of it, transcribed by
another monk many years after Santiago wrote the original. This is
all there is, this is all that the other monk managed to copy from
the original.'

He frowned. 'I was hoping we'd get the exact location of the idol
from it, but if it doesn't give us that, then what I need to know
are the generalities: where to look, where to start looking. We've
got the technology to pinpoint the location of the idol/f we know
where to begin our search. And

by the sound of things, from what you've read so far, it appears
that you have enough there to tell me where to start

looking. So tell me what you know.'

Race showed Nash his notes, told him the story of Renco Capac and
his flight from Cuzco. He then explained that from what he'd read,
Renco had made it to his intended destination—a citadel-town at the
base of the Andes known as Vilcafor.

He also told Nash that, so long as they knew one particular fact,
the manuscript detailed how to get to that town.

'And what fact is that?“ Nash said.

'Assuming the stone totems are still there,' Race said,

'you have to know what the “Mark of the Sun” is. If you don't know
what it is, then you can't read the totems.'

Nash frowned and turned to Walter Chambers, the anthropologist and
Incan expert, sitting a few seats away.

'Walter. Do you know anything about a “Mark of the Sun”

in Incan culture?'

'The Mark of the Sun? Why, yes, of course.'

“What is it?'

Chambers shrugged, came oven 'It's just a birthmark, really. Kind
of like Professor Race's there.' He nodded with his chin at Race's
glasses, indicating the dark triangular blemish on the skin under
his left eye. Race cringed. Ever since he was a kid, he'd hated
that birthmark. He thought it looked like a smudged coffee stain on
his face.

'The Incans thought birthmarks were signs of distinc tion,'
Chambers said. 'Signs sent from the gods themselves.

The Mark of the Sun was a special kind of birthmarkla blemish on
the face, just below the left eye. It was special because the
Incans believed that it was a mark sent from their most powerful
god, the Sun God. To have a child with such a mark was regarded as
a great honour. The Mark of the Sun indicated that that particular
child was special, in some way destined for greatness.'

Race said, 'So if someone instructed us to follow a statue in the
direction of the• Mark of the Sun, they would be telling us to go
to the statue's left?'

'That would be correct,' Chambers said, hesitating. 'I
think.”

'What do you mean, you think?“ Nash said.

'Well, you see, over the past ten years, there's been sub stantial
debate among anthropologists as to whether or not the Mark of the
Sun was found on the left-hand side of the face or the right-hand
side. Incan carvings and pictographs universally depict the Mark of
the Sun—whether on pictures of humans or animals or whatever—under
the carving's left eye. Problems arise, however, when one reads
Spanish texts like the Relaci6n and the Royal Commentaries which
talk of people like Renco Capac and Tupac Amaru, both of whom

were said to have borne the Mark. The problem is, those books say
that Renco and Amaru had the mark under their right eyes. And as
soon as something like that arises, confusion reigns
supreme.'

'So what do you think?'

'Left-hand side, definitely.'

'And we should be able to find our way to the citadel?'

Nash said, worried.

'You can trust my judgement on this one, Colonel,'

Chambers said confidently. 'If we follow each statue to the left,
we'll find that citadel.'

Just then, a sing-song little bell rang from somewhere
nearby.

Race turned. It had come from Nash's laptop—an email message must
have just come through. Nash went back