They made their way along the route Tlaqui had prescribed. The streets were deserted and the houses empty. As the Perfect Victim and Tlaqui mounted the stairs to the temple, the crowd moved to the square in front of the pyramid. Beyond an occasional "Turn here" or "That way," the three of them did not speak, each of them absorbed in their own thoughts.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCfRxzg6ALF
Don knew that a final reckoning with Yaotl was inevitable, and, remembering all the warriors in the temple for the sacrifice to Tlaloc, realized he would be hopelessly outnumbered. But he also knew that Yaotl would insist on single-handed combat, having made sure it would be a one-sided affair. Somehow, psychologically, he had to defeat Yaotl.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7EcMYtJwpw
Penny mentally had her fingers crossed and all her hopes were pinned upon the possibility that her grandfather had dreamed up yet another near-miracle to see them safely out of trouble.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IGXb9axMj
Zuma thought only of her beloved Dr. Smith, whom she knew she would lose when she delivered Penny and Don to the temple.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR1KfNihnii
They came to the side of the pyramid and went towards the entrance where Yaotl stood.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWjzsab2GHI
"I shall see us past," Zuma said and when they reached Yaotl she congratulated him on his appointment and added that she had been charged with delivering Penny to the temple. Yoatl put his hand on Don's sholder.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLWRPou8O33
"Where is Don?" he asked.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaQRZKZBPJw
"He follows with two other warriors," Don replied, disguising his voice as heavily as he could and pointing vaguely behind him.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiuuUnxGCJ
"Escort them to the temple," Yaotl said.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOormpdZgYN
The first victory, though a minor one, Don thought as he followed Penny and Zuma up the stairs----nonetheless a victory.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGXnsqFbo6B
The Perfect Victim and Tlaqui came into the temple. Ollin, ignoring Ann on the throne, led them ceremoniouslyl out onto the terrace so that all the people in the square below could see them. The Perfect Victim spread out his arms as though to embrace them all. Ollin drew Tlaqui to one side.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡguNeCzUgXX
"First, as the sun is overshadowed, the handmaiden will be tortured and rendered blind," he hissed, "then Yaotl will dispatch Don with his club and cast him off. And as total darkness comes I shall honor Huitzilopochtli with the perfect sacrifice. After which I shall deal with her..." Ollin jerked his head back towards Ann, then took Tlaqui by the arm. "Tetzal has gone," he whispered. "So you are now the High Priest of Knowledge."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvwqCFug6FN
"I shall stand forever at your side," Tlaqui replied with a bow.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz2bepYtIkV
Yaotl waited for the two warriors to bring Don, but they didn't appear and already the moon was edging its way in front of the sun. Suddenly, the truth dawned on him. The masked warrior who had taken Zuma and Penny to the temple was Don! With a shout of rage, Yaotl raced up the stairs.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpweS6Y8guW
Zuma and Penny entered the temple with Don, who silently mouthed the words "Dr. Smith," to Ann. She glanced at the second brocade curtain. At least the four of them were in the temple, Don thought, but so were the Perfect Victim, Tlaqui, Ollin and twenty warriors with javelins. He turned to Zuma.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMhUA4WgrEL
"For your own safety, go now, Zuma," he said gently, "and thank you."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsEU46yt7ie
Zuma smiled bravely. "Say goodbye to Zachary for me," she said and he stepped from behind the curtain to take her hand in his.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV01VlAF2hN
"Fair thee well, Zuma," he said.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsgZPmfEelP
She touched his face with her hand and left the temple.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUinJzlu53s
Ollin stood on the terrace, gazing up at the sun. A quarter was covered by the moon. 365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpF9lGkS1G8
Thorns lay on the altar.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQX0dVhhFiG
"Seize the handmaiden so that she may be punished," he ordered.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDKnOLI0qe2
Two warriors grabbed Penny by the arms.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkZJpavBfOd
"Uncle Zachary!" she called out.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXrY3nMzXw8
Dr. Smith took a step towards her, but Don stopped him with his hand as Ann stood up.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnWpL7P05z9
"I, the Great Spirit of Nenetl, forbid this punishment," she commanded.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqRsTmmRt0t
Ollin limped into the temple from the terrace. "You forbid it?" he snarled. "Must I then order warriors to restrain you as you witness the thorns being thrust in and her eyes being gouged out?"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIKQQyrwIgS
"I shall bring the thorns to you," Don said.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjIPTRrus2K
"Do so," Ollin replied, staring at Ann.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLJFyU6KVL
Don went to the altar and picked up the thorns one by one. Then he glanced up at the sun, which was now one-third covered. Both Ann and Dr. Smith wondered what Don was up to.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbme20k0IEP
"Make haste, for the darkness is descending," Ollin hissed.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSLUl8X066a
"I obey, High Priest," Don replied calmly, and threw the thorns over the parapet.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVWnWEZD5l9
For an instant Ollin gaped at the masked face. "You!" he snarled. As Don took off his mask, he turned to the warriors. "Strike him down!" he ordered.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIY8lIXRx9I
"No!" Yaotl roared as he entered the temple. "He is mine!" and he advanced menacingly towards Don.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFa6aLAM9Rq
"I was worried it would be dark before you got here," Don said, backing round the sacrificial altar, making sure he kept it between himself and Yaotl.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8OxcJtOKJn
"Dispatch him!" the High Priest of Sacrifice barked. "The darkness comes."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8EQBzNuXqO
Penny, Ann and Dr. Smith held their breath.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpugecRYthj
"Does it?" Don asked as he took the biggest gamble of his life. He unclipped the pencil torch from the inside of his loin-cloth and shone it in Yaotl's face. "Then let there be light!"365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTFVhAReQzS
The Chosen Warrior's advance faltered. Don flicked off the torch then put it back on again. Yaotl's eyes dilated with fear as Don aimed the beam of light at the cudgel and reflected rays bounced off of the gold studes. With a horrified gasp, Yaotl dropped it and Don walked towards him flicking the torch on and off. Yaotl backed away.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHcLCVb65Mg
"The darkness comes, perfect sacrifice must be made," Ollin screamed so Don shone the torch on the High Priest's face who cowered back against the wall. With the beam of light off him, Yaotl made a dash along the parapet edge towards Don.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1ybfMS7Twx
"West!" Dr. Smith shouted his warning, and Don swept the light back into Yaotl's face.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNUMUFum9w
The Chosen Warrior checked himself, tried to turn away, over-balanced and hurtled screaming to his death two hundred and fifty feet below.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2PXEVZbIoM
"Now, Ann," Dr. Smith murmured. She pulled off the bracelet while Dr. Smith took his pulley-wheel and the silk strip from behind the curtain. Don came in from the terrace shining the torch on the Aztec faces. When Tlaqui's was lit up, he sank babbling to his knees. Ollin shielded his eyes but didn't move. Ann threaded the bracelet through the hole in the middle of the pulley-wheel. Dr. Smith passed the silk over the groove and Ann stood on the throne, holding the bracelet at arm's length above her head. Penny ducked behind the brocaded curtain, gathered up the two bundles of clothes and dashed to the wall.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4VknHl66dQ
"Get your fingers under the wall as soon as you can, Penny," Dr. Smith said as he tugged gently on the silk. The wall started to move.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡopRrxqZn8k
"It's working, Uncle Zachary," Penny said as she dug her fingers under the base of the wall and helped to lift it up.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡktCOqI1hqF
"Had to," Dr.Smith replied, "motion, dynamics, thrust. Everybody ready?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Then let us be off."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqH5ll0Vowy
Ann clambered down from the throne, Penny grabbed their clothes, and with Don last, still keeping the light shining on frightened faces, they went into Nenetl's tomb pulling the silk strip with them. The wall closed behind them as Ollin scrambled to his feet.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOj5q9ryJxm
"Sacrifice! Sacrifice!" he screamed and two warriors went with him out onto the terrace to lay out the Perfect Victim on the altar. Ollin looked up at the dark sky, the sun now totally eclipsed, and raised the obsidian knife above his head.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9aEdQTSi6b
"Huitzilopochtli, great God of the Sun," he chanted, "give us back your light as we, in your honor, make your perfect sacrifice." He plunged the knife into the Perfect Victim's chest....365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡad6swq4M6P
Inside the tomb everyone took a moment to catch their breath. Don switched off the torch as the light from inside the TARDIS seemed sufficient. Dr. Smith took Nenetl's bracelet from Ann and began unthreading his pulley-wheel.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv2ZHJLC15P
"We mustn't leave behind something they haven't got," he observed. "It would confuse Cortez and his conquistadores no end." He snagged the snake's head on the edge of the central hole. "West, some light, please." Don pressed the button but nothing happened. "Light, dear chap," Dr. Smith insisted.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKLIBWKXXNG
"Sorry, Dr. Smith," Don replied, shaking the pencil-torch a couple of times. "I think the battery's dead."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwbhTrbUinU
Ann ran her fingers around Ollin's mask. "I failed, Dr. Smith," she said.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDBFNoCg4Tw
"It was inevitable, my dear," he replied, overcoming the problem with the pulley-wheel.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoKajCRLpoq
"Then what's the point of us wandering through time and space?" she asked. "We can't change anything. We're observers. Nothing more. Ollin had already won the moment he first set eyes upon us."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmIO5UoIbuA
"Yes, my dear," Dr. Smith replied philosophically as he laid the bracelet on the slab beside the skeleton.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ1GQCPdJcp
"And the one man I had respect for, I decieved," Ann said in self-accusation. "I lied to Tetzal, I gave him false hope and in the end he lost his faith."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJSNYgKcxqc
"The last time I spoke to him, he said he would pray to Quetzalcoatl for us. Not Huitzilopochtli, my dear," Dr. Smith replied. "No, through you he found another faith, a better one. You couldn't save a civilization, Ann, but you did help one man."365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡylH3cnVl7i
"I hope so," she said and went into the TARDIS.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtTcJmMGlZQ
Dr. Smith put the pulley-wheel into his pocket and felt something else. He took it out and even in the dim light of the tomb he knew it was the brooch Zuma had given to him in the garden. It came from the tomb therfore it should be left in the tomb, he thought, but then again Zuma had given it to him as a present, so he slipped it back into his pocket, went into the TARDIS and closed the door.365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpu7lapXBcj
365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzFoDIiU1T
THE END365Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeg83KXYn5
