March 20th, 1921, part II
That evening, over dinner at Bar Cordano, the group began going over their plans for the following day, when the expedition was set to begin. When Larkin appeared at the table, he looked in good spirits and in good health—at least as good as he’d looked a few days prior when the initial introductions were made. Still a bit pale, sweaty, and perhaps with somewhat shaken hands, Larkin nonetheless greeted the group warmly and seemed very eager to discuss the expedition. However, he noticeably avoided mentioning de Mendoza.
Larkin explained that the first leg of the journey, approximately 800 miles and taking three days, would see them arrive at the village of Puno, on the banks of the great Lake Titicaca. In Puno, they would purchase supplies in preparation for their eventual overland trek (by foot and mule) into the highlands and to the ruins near Peru’s border with Bolivia.
After Larkin had excused himself from dinner, discussion of the recently discovered artifacts began. It was decided that both the gold band, which appeared to be a small piece of a larger whole, and the strange gold mask, which had produced curious visions when worn, should be kept close, as their true purpose was still unknown. Elias, a skeptic, was at a loss to explain the visions he witnessed when in the vicinity of the mask, but nevertheless agreed that it was an important archaeological and anthropological find and should remain within reach.
When the conversation turned to the Final Confessions of Gaspar Figueroa, Holder made a startling discovery. The document, which was from 1543, mentioned the name Luis de Mendoza as one of the conquistadors who originally found the pyramid. Ford and Brochet noted that this could be an ancestor of the man they knew and might explain his interest in the ruins.
March 21st, 1921
Early the next morning, the trucks arrived on time, and the expedition was officially underway. Larkin was chipper, alert, and looking healthier than ever as he chatted with the men and pleasantly gave orders about loading the trucks with supplies and equipment. An hour later, with the driving assignments given out, the caravan was shifted into gear, and the expedition departed Lima for its journey toward an unknown destiny.
After a long first day’s drive, camp was made on a beach near Pisco, where Brochet easily caught enough fish to feed the hungry travelers. That night, however, Brochet was unnerved by an overwhelming sense of being watched, despite no watchers ever being discovered.
March 22nd, 1921
After making excellent time, the convoy arrived in Puno a day early. As the trucks pulled into town, Elias confided that this was not his first visit to Puno and that he had been there a year earlier to conduct research on the supposed Kharisiri cult. During the course of this research, he was introduced to a woman named Nayra, who was a healer, wise woman, and expert on local folklore. Elias suggested that while Larkin was busy procuring supplies for their overland trek, they might meet with Nayra to learn more about their recent experiences with de Mendoza.
Admitting that he had previously dismissed Nayra’s tales of literal monsters as mere superstition, Elias was nonetheless eager to hear what the old woman might have to say about recent cult-like developments in Lima and what she may know about the lost pyramid they were on their way to find. He also said that Nayra, at the time of their first meeting, believed she was being followed by either Kharisiri or their agents and that she may have to go into hiding.
With Larkin occupied procuring supplies, Elias was free to begin tracking down the whereabouts of Nayra, which his numerous friendly contacts in Puno happily provided in due time.
It was soon discovered that Nayra was living on one of the many man-made islands floating in Lake Titicaca, which were each home to several fishing communities. Elias, being the only one in the group to speak Spanish, quickly obtained the services of a boatman who would ferry them to the island, then wait until they were done and return them to mainland Puno. Noticing the same suspicious and fearful looks they received from the residents of Lima, it seemed logical that the legends of the Kharisiri spread far and wide across Peru. The prying eyes of the Puno villagers, however, could not explain Brochet’s unnerving sense of being watched by unseen forces.
Once on the island, located approximately two miles from shore, the group’s first steps were met with an awkward shifting of the land as the island’s natural buoyancy adjusted to their movement. With mistrust on their faces and their intentions unknown, the approaching islanders natural suspicion towards outsiders (especially ones of European descent) was quickly abated by the calls of an old woman excitedly hurrying toward them.
“Jackson! Jackson!” called Nayra before embracing Elias affectionately.
With the boatman calmly smoking and relaxing in his skiff, Nayra led the group into her spacious tent, where a fire warmed their bones and the scent of delicious cooking filled their minds.
While doling out plates of hot food to her guests, Nayra seemed especially keen on giving Holder a heaping plateful. Half-starved and eager for a home-cooked meal, Holder zealously bit into a particularly fine-looking morsel, only to find that it was nothing more than a piece of driftwood hidden among the more edible items on his plate. At seeing this, Nayra let out a good-natured and hearty belly laugh that nearly shook the whole island. Slapping her knee and patting Holder kindheartedly on the back, she winked before giving him an extra helping of sweets.
“I should have warned you about Nayra’s pranks,” Elias confessed through a mouthful of food.
As they ate, Elias urged Nayra to share with them her vast knowledge of local legends and folklore, just as she had with him a year earlier. Nayra, an entertainer through and through, happily obliged.
With Elias translating, Nayra told of an old myth concerning an ancient and evil god who fell from the sky and landed in Lake Titicaca. As the god crawled from the lake, it brought hunger with it, devouring all it touched.
Soon, the trickster hero Ekeko told the evil god where the most nutritious food could be found underground by showing it tubers and grubs. Tempted by the food he saw, the god from the sky was easily convinced to crawl into an old armadillo burrow to find more. Once inside, the trickster placed stones over the burrow, trapping the god below.
Ekeko told the people that this was now a sacred site and had them build a temple over it before binding it in place with “spells worked in gold.”
When she finished, Elias turned to the group, saying, “Quite a story. It sounds a bit like our pyramid, doesn’t it?”
After hearing the phrase “spells worked in gold,” the group decided to show Nayra the gold band found near the body of Trinidad Rizo, the unfortunate grad student found beneath the office of Professor Sánchez at the university in Lima. Upon seeing the artifact, Nayra’s eyes widened in a mixture of fascination and fright. Translating her words once more, Elias informed the group that, under Nayra’s explicit instructions, they were to return the gold band to the pyramid from which it was taken.
Intrigued, the group then showed Nayra the mask, which was known to produce esoteric hallucinations for its wearer, but the wisewoman quickly balked. Holding up a finger on her outstretched arm, she rebuked the offer to wear the mask with a simple and curt “No, no.”
Ford then turned to his companions and suggested that Nayra had perhaps been on this ride before. However, when asked what the item was, she responded that it was “something that shows you things you should not see,” adding that she had not actually experienced the visions the mask provided but that she knew of them through folkloric descriptions and local legend.
Of the Kharisiri, Nayra explained that they were known throughout the region but that their names often changed from village to village. She then pointed at Holder, Ford, and Brochet, explaining that regardless of their names, one thing about them remained the same: the Kharisiri always resembled tall Europeans, specifically Spaniards or other white men, and that they wore wide-brimmed hats.
She continued, saying that these men carried long knives, which they used to butcher people and steal their body fat. They were also known to drug people, extracting the precious fat using magic or strange tools and leaving them to die slow, lingering deaths.
Adding yet another layer to her morbid tale, Nayra claimed she had it on good authority that Kharisiri also sucked the fat from their victims using only their mouths, like some sort of unholy human leach.
Those living in the area were quick to accuse the invading conquistadors of being Kharisiri, who used the stolen body fat of their victims to treat their wounds and grease their weapons. Later tales told of Kharisiri priests who used stolen fat to make holy oil, or perhaps offered it as a sacrament to their blasphemous god.
Nayra then became visibly frightened as she continued her tale. The year before, she said, she had pointed a man out to Elias who she knew to be a Kharisiri. Ever since, she has had the distinct feeling of being followed, thus her secret residence on the flotilla in the lake.
Suspecting the identity of this man, Holder described Luis de Mendoza to her. Nayra agreed that, yes, this was the Spaniard she had singled out to Elias. Acknowledging this, Elias reluctantly confirmed that the man did indeed bear a striking resemblance to de Mendoza, whom he would not meet again until coming under the employ of Augustus Larkin nearly a year later. He could not be certain whether or not de Mendoza had noticed him that day with Nayra, but it might explain the man’s immediate mistrust of the American known as Jesse Hughes.
Perhaps most chilling to Nayra, though, was that recently, many of those suspected of being Kharisiri did not fit the widely accepted classic white European mold. To explain this, Nayra theorized that either the legends were incomplete or that the Kharisiri had devised a way to spread their disease among the general highland populace.
Curious about what Nayra might make of their recent experiences, Ford described to her the murder of Rizo and the attack on Sánchez. Shrugging, her reply was direct and to the point. “Kharisiri,” she said curtly.
Convinced there must be some way to repel a Kharisiri attack, Holder asked if there was a preferred method for dealing with the foul creatures, to which Nayra replied that, unfortunately, there was not. Other than acknowledging that victims were usually isolated or alone in the countryside when attacked, Nayra admitted that there was no known way to protect oneself from the Kharisiri.
“No charm or symbol can protect you,” she said. “A Kharisiri attack is simply seen as bad luck.”
With the meal finished, jugs of sweet-smelling alcohol and smoking pipes appeared in the tent and were passed around. Putting the rather dire conversation behind them, the mood became festive and mirthful as Nayra began to tell what she called “ghost stories.”
With Elias translating, Nayra told of how, according to the Incas, the lake was the birthplace of humanity.
“In times past,” she said, “the god Viracocha, also known as Con-Tici, rose from the waters, carrying humans with him. When Viracocha had orchestrated the heavens by positioning the sun, moon, and stars, he commanded the humans to spread across the world.
“The people of the region saw the lake itself as a goddess—Mamacota, or Mother Water—and erected an idol in her honor. This idol, known as Copacahuana, was fashioned from blue-green stone and took the form of a fish with the head of a woman.
“When the Spaniards conquered the area, they saw these displays as pagan, but worship of the goddess who fed the people with her bounty of fish was so deep-rooted that all they could do was replace her idol with a statue of the Virgin Mary. Copacahuana is still venerated to this day.”
She continued, saying that “Wanderers should be wary of remains they may find in caves and on mountainsides, as these could be sleeping Machukuna, creatures made from bones.
“By day, they work the fields and fertilize the crops. Some believe this to be penance for the sins the Machukuna committed in life, as through their efforts and labor they may regrow their flesh anew. Not necessarily dangerous, they may seek out humans willing to give them food. The main risk they pose is the wind that follows them, which is reputed to bring disease and bad luck.”
Nayra concluded her tale by saying that “There are other creatures like the Machukuna that offer a more direct threat: the Suq'a seek out humans not to repent their sins but to kill and eat them.”
Then, raising her eyebrow, Nayra suggested, “Perhaps somehow the Suq’a are related to the Kharisiri.”
Finally, with a deliberate and dramatic jolt, she devilishly exclaimed, “Something to think about, you fools!” and laughed heartily.
Just as the shared laughter within the tent began to die down, a horrible scream was heard from outside. Startled and clearly unnerved, Nayra stood, whispering a solitary word.
“Kharisiri.”
The Friends of Prospero
Peru: Episode VIII • Peru: Episode VII • Peru: Episode VI • Peru: Episode V • Peru: Episode IV • Peru: Episode III • Peru: Episode II • Peru: Episode I
The Two-Headed Serpent
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