nd
place my honour in your keeping, for having given you all the rest, why
should I not give you that also? He said: 'Daughter, you who have been
my ambassador, you, my only child, who know all my counsel, know also
that there is about to be the greatest war that the land of Tavantinsuyu
has ever known, war between the two mighty nations of the Quichuas of
Cuzco whereof the old Upanqui is king and god, and the Chancas whereof
I am king and you, if you live, in a day to come will be the queen. No
longer can these two lions dwell in the same forest; one of them must
devour the other; nor shall I fight alone, since on our side are all the
Yuncas of the coast who, as you report to me, are ripe for rebellion.
But, as you also report, and as I have learned from others, they are not
yet ready. Moons must go by before their armies are joined to mine and I
throw off the mask. Is it not so?'

"I answered that it was so, and my father went on:

"'Then during that time, Daughter, a dust must be raised that will hide
the shining of my spears, and, Daughter, you are that dust. To-morrow
the old Inca Upanqui visits me here with a small army. I read your
thought. It is--Why do you not kill him and his army? Daughter, for this
reason. He is very aged and about to lay down his sceptre, who grows
feeble of mind and body. If I killed him what would it serve me, seeing
that he has left his son, Urco, who will be Inca, ruling at Cuzco, and
that of his soldiers not one in fifty will be with him here? Moreover,
he is my guest, and the gods frown on those who slay their guests, nor
will men ever trust them more.'

"Now I answered: 'You spoke of me as a cloud of dust, Father; how, then,
can this poor dust serve your ends and those of the Chanca people?'

"'Thus Daughter,' he answered. 'With your own consent you are promised
in marriage to Urco. Upanqui the Inca has heard rumours that the Chancas
prepare for war. Therefore, he who travels on his last journey through
certain of his dominions comes to lead you away, to be Urco's bride,
saying to himself, "If those rumours are true, King Huaracha will
withhold his only child and heiress, since never will he make war upon
Cuzco if she rules there as its queen." Therefore, if I refuse you to
him, he will withdraw and begin the war, rolling down his thousands
upon us before we are ready, and bringing the Chancas to destruction and
enslavement. Therefore also not only my fate, but the fate of all you