Publisher's Synopsis
It was 1530 and the New World south of Panama had yet to be discovered. The land to the south was ruled by a powerful people known as the Inca. Their roads rivalled the fabled paved avenues of ancient. Rome and their empire stretched from Ecuador in the north to Chile in the south, from the Pacific-coastline in the west to the jungles of the Amazon in the East. The great Huayna Capac ruled the Inca world that boasted cities and large temples to worship their Gods, centres of learning and arts, terraced farms, fishing fleets and huge rafts that traded along the Pacific coast. The Inca Empire in 1530 knew no equal in the New World. With the first European visitors came the smallpox, decimating their proud armies and killing Huayna Capac, leaving the empire torn between his two sons. Atahualpa ruled from Quito in the north and his brother Huascar from Cuzco in the south. Enter into this divided, war torn nation a Spaniard, Francisco Pizarro, known as one of the greatest Conquistadors of all time. With him came his brothers, half brothers, soldiers of fortune and the Holy Catholic Church. One of the clergy was the adventurer priest, Friar Marcos de Niza. Marcos had been with Pizarro's uncle, Hernando Cortes in Mexico, had seen the atrocities committed there in the name of God and Country. His writings chronicled the destruction of the mighty Aztec empire in the fervent hope that no other civilisation would be destroyed in the Spanish lust for gold and treasure. History has recorded the story of the conquest, of the few proud, daring Spaniards that conquered the greatest empire and defeated the largest army ever to march on the soil of the New World. That story is well-known. Once again Marcos picks up his quill to write a different story. He tells the story as it happened, as he witnessed it. His story is one of treachery and deceit, of a ransom paid and betrayed that brought the Inca Empire to its knees. Only here is the truth told, as the Old World, still lusting for gold, battles the New World for its greatest treasure.
