The Condor Mission (completed)

Chapter 04 - Mission Condor

During the long awaited gathering of nations, the subjects related to the Inca's journey were overshadowed by the immense concern of the northern leaders at the arrival of the Barbados men. The Christian calendar pointed to the end of 1492. They were not yet aware that an Italian navigator named Christopher Columbus would begin a series of expeditions in the central Caribbean islands and Mesoamerica. The Genoese had just arrived at Ayiiti, landing with three caravels on the blue-water beaches of the island of paradise.

At that moment, it was annexing that prosperous territory to the kingdom of Spain, officially, under the orders of the Sovereigns of Castile and Aragon. It was a great tropical island inhabited by the Taino people, of Arauak origin. The commander Columbus was autonomous governor of the Caribbean island. He was convinced that they had arrived in some corner of the East because they were unaware of the existence of the great American continent.
In short, the agenda and resolutions of the meetings have served little to resolve the great crisis. The groups representing the main pre-Columbian nations were force to returne home with a deep frustration and a sense of powerlessness. They were at their own mercy. There was nothing to do but to resist, said a minority; while the majority really believed that the gods would take revenge and destroy everything: peoples, cities, culture. The latter would flee into the woods or accept their own destiny: a horrible death.

Inca Tupac died in 1494, ignoring the arrival of Columbus and Barbados men in Mexico and, in the future, in the Tahuantinsuyo. The succession of the incas had gone as planned, despite the usual conflicts between clans of nobility. Huayna Capac, the chosen heir and took over the Empire immediately after his father's death. The news of the arrival of Europeans and their settlements in the Caribbean was received by the new Inca during 1495. It was a summer morning and the Andean sovereign was talking with his half-brother, Wythuya. He made an effort to conceal a sovereign attitude. He started out, saying:
- Brother. You know I've always admired you.
I would like to see you travel and know cultures and how you told me everything when you returned. I was never jealous of you. We became true friends. Tupac's death made me the new ruler of Tahuantinsuyo, and I fear I will no longer be the same... younger brother.
Wythuya interrupted a deep silence that troubled Huayna.
- You don't have to say anything, my lord. My brother. I understand my position and I am prepared to accept my fate; I know that is what I was called to the Palace for. I was getting ready to go to Tiahuanaco. Like every Inca in the Highlands, I ever need to be in the tranquility of the Colao Tablet. I dreamt that I was fishing and cooking with old Coca, my grandfather, and accompanying my mother, Pacha, in the daily chores. But here I am, ready to take orders and follow the will of the gods.

Huayna Cápac, the new Inca, liked Wythuya's house on Lake Titicaca. He recalled the toys of childhood when they spent some summers on the island of the sun, strategically located in the middle of the Great Lake. But a dark cloud crosses thoughts. He cut through the brother's speech. Ever since he became emperor, he felt an involuntary need to assert himself before any subject.
- Times have changed. Now, I must attend to the Empire, there is no more room for other things. The wonderful Inti wanted Tupac not to receive the message with the news of Columbus in the Caribbean islands. He died and the rumors of the foreign invasion never disturbed our father's optimism. It would be a great sorrow. But now, we are with this reality reaching the most essential pillars of the Andean Empire and nation. We will write a new story or end up as a turbulent chapter in the history of other peoples. It is time to act.
Wythuya admired the behavior of his brother, the new Inca, but at the same time, pitied his difficult situation as administrator of a vast territory. Huayna, with very little age and experience, would face a very catastrophic and inexorable reality. But there was no time or space for lament, hesitation. And the hero of this narrative took a new stance, injected his eyes with blood. They had to begin the mission. He spoke to the Inca looking into his eyes, a foul of cruel physical punishment.