The Mummies of Blogspace9 Read Online Free Page A

you’re talking about.” I told him I was a historian. I told him about the excavations, about the church ruins.
    “So you were there, down there at the edge of the world?”
    “If you think coastal Peru is the edge of the world, then sure.”
    “You’ve seen them, the creatures who walk in the night?”
    “Creatures?” I didn’t know what he was talking about.
    “And at night, you never went outside?”
    I told him about the nightly lockdown due to the drunk cane cutters, but he just laughed.
    “So you don’t know.”
    “Don’t know what?”
    “You don’t know who you’ve gotten involved with.”
    I asked him who he was.
    “Negromonte,” he said, puffing on his cigarette. “My family has lived in this city for more than five hundred years. Metalworkers, we forged blades for Queen Isabella when she lay siege to the Alcazar. My people were rewarded handsomely after her victory. Metalworkers, we were, and we desired one metal more than any other. Do you know what metal that is, payo?”
    I nodded. “Gold. But Isabella didn’t have any gold left. I’m a historian,” I reminded him.
    “That’s right. She offered silver, but instead we waited. We waited nearly fifty years. And then we reminded the new king of his grandmother’s debt to us, a debt which had been running up interest for fifty years.”
    “King Charles.” I nodded. As terrified as I was, I was fascinated. “He had already been crowned Holy Roman emperor.”
    “Yes. And the Holy Roman emperor owed my family now more gold than was available in all of Spain. So we made a deal. We would go to the Americas ourselves. So we served as soldiers and grooms and valets, but we got what we wanted. We made it to the Viceroyalty. But there was no gold to be found. It had all been stolen. Hidden somewhere.”
    “Wait a second.” I stepped out of the doorway but the two other guys moved in, so I jumped back onto my perch.
    “Forgive them,” Negromonte said. “They don’t speak English. They don’t speak much of anything. Low-born, but they’re good thieves and they keep their mouths shut. And remember, they’d never touch you.”
    I decided to test this. I took a bold step toward them and raised my right hand as if to shake hands. They nearly fell over themselves jumping away, but my success was short-lived. They pulled identical truncheons from inside their coats and came towards me. I pulled back to my perch in the doorway.
    “Just a moment more and you’ll be on your way,” Negromonte told me. “Do you understand what I am telling you?”
    “I think so,” I said. “You’re saying that five hundred years ago some of your gypsy ancestors traveled to Peru in search of gold that had been promised by Queen Isabella.”
    “That’s right. We sailed in 1540.”
    “Amazing. I’d love to interview you for my research,” I told him.
    He spat on the ground. “I don’t think you’ll live long enough.”
    If he saw the fear and confusion on my face, he did nothing to put me at ease. In fact, he did quite the opposite. “He’ll come for you now,” he said.
    “Who?” I was getting frightened all over again. The other two sensed it and they started tapping their sticks against their legs.
    Negromonte shook his head. “We’ll talk more, payo. Maybe I can yet save your life.” He brought a leather case from his jacket and took out a card. He extended it warily, careful not to touch my hand. Beneath a drawing of a green wagon wheel was the name ‘Melchor Negromonte’ along with an address. “You will come to this restaurant tomorrow night. Use the back door.”
    “Why should I do that? You know, I’m not really enjoying this.”
    “We never got the gold,” he continued. “Oh, we found it. We found more than we were owed. But we didn’t know about the creatures. Didn’t know what they were capable of. If your associates are still down there, they won’t be alive much longer. Neither will you. Now promise me you will come