“What do they want with me?” he asked, fearing nothing good could result from this visit.

“They have learned of you from those students you have been so generous with. They wish to ask you about the apu.”

“What?” he asked. Of all the possible reasons important foreigners might come this high, the apu of the mountains was not one he would ever have thought of.

“The young woman is very famous, but the young man is apparently a shaman of great skill and power. According to what they have told me, they are traveling the world, introducing themselves to the great apu of the world. They wish to meet Pitusiray and Sahuasiray.”

He turned and looked at the two great snow-capped mountains, his stomach clenching in sudden fear. Those two mountains and their great apu watched over this land, guarded its inhabitants or punished them. The female Pitusiray and her male companion Sahuasiray.

“I will not offend them,” a voice said. He turned and found the young man, the one Julio Valez called a shaman, approaching. He was holding a phone and his voice had come from that, clearly speaking Quechua.

“My phone can translate well enough,” the young man said. “I am Declan, and I have no wish to bring the wrath of the mountains down upon you. I only wish to introduce myself to them.”

“If you have a machine translator, why am I here?” Julio Valez demanded, his expression one of betrayal.

“To make an introduction to Julio Hyncho, who I hope will make an introduction to the apu,” Declan said. “This is Stacia.”

The striking girl nodded, clearly receiving her own translation on her own phone.

“Why? Why do you wish to disturb the mountains?” Julio Hyncho asked.

“Because our world faces great enemies who are a danger to both man and mountain. We are spreading the message, telling the apu of the world that danger approaches. Should they wish to defend their world, we will help with that.”

“The mountains do not always wake, do not always know we are about,” Julio Hyncho said, attempting to dissuade this impending disaster.

The young man smiled, turned his head, put two fingers in his mouth, and whistled sharply. It was loud enough to turn the heads of Julio’s llamas two pastures away.

Nothing happened, other than the boy just standing there smiling, the beautiful girl looking around the farm curiously. Then a shadow floated across the grasses. A big shadow. They all looked up. A creature flew overhead, a winged beast much larger than even the biggest condor. Scaled, horned, wings like a bat. It screamed a call that sent a chill down Julio’s spine, circling the farm. Then the awful wings, each much larger than a man, folded and the horror shot straight for them. The young couple just smiled while both Julios ducked and the officer jumped back into the vehicle.