“Cortisone,” Vern said.

“Cortisone?” Thomas said with a laugh. From the way he said it, Andy guessed Thomas had his own experience with the stuff.

“Yeah,” Vern said. “Holland has a bad back, so he brought a few shots with him. When Andy decided to track you down, Holland said he’d feel a lot better if I went along with. When I told him there was no way I could go, my knee the way it was, he said he had something that could help. Stuck me in the knee, and ten minutes later, I felt like I could climb Everest.”

Everyone laughed.

“Speaking of cortisone,” Rix said from where he was sprawled out on the ground, his leg and shoulder a bloody mess. “Does anyone have any?”

Gina knelt beside him and said, “I almost forgot about you.”

“Don’t forget about me,” Rix said. He sounded loopy, as if he’d been out drinking all night.

“How are we going to get him back to base camp?” Thomas said. “Can we make some sort of gurney?”

Martin said, “We should let the shaman take a look at him.”

“He’s right,” Gina said. “He’s in pretty bad shape. I think between the shaman and me, we can get him stabilized though.”

Speaking of the villagers. Andy still hadn’t seen any sign of them. He asked, “Where is everyone?”

“That’s a good question,” Thomas said.

Andy waved to Darnell and said, “Give me that camera.”

Andy turned the camera on and walked briskly past several small wooden houses. Andy had been so caught up in the rescue mission that he hadn’t taken the time to realize how beautiful the craftsmanship of the woodwork was.

He bypassed another two houses, then came to a large fifty-foot-wide square structure. There were carved wooden columns leading up a small staircase.

It was a temple.

Andy vaulted up the stairs and found Daniel Sewall already there. He was attempting to push aside a large stone that had been rolled in front of the door by the soldiers.

Andy set the camera down on the ground and helped Daniel push the stone away from the door.

“Thanks,” Daniel said, pulling the door open.

Daniel peeked his head into the temple and said in Spanish, “It’s okay. You can all come out now.”

Slowly, the villagers began to exit the large building. There must have been close to two hundred people packed into the temple.

Daniel watched as tribesmen dressed in nothing more than red loincloths filed out. They were soon joined by men and women in their traditional clothing. The men were dressed in ivory-colored sleeveless tunics and sandals. The women wore brightly colored dresses with a sash around the waist.

The villagers spoke among themselves.

Andy heard snippets of Spanish, but for the most part, he heard another language.

He couldn’t believe it.

The villagers were speaking Quechua.