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Amautas of the Black Bonnet and a strange personage were waiting for them. He was an old
man of gray hair and fations of Nordic European, whose blue eyes and clear skin confirmed that
he belonged to the White Race. As the two first Amautas that the Lords of Tharsis met, the
white old man and his companions only wanted to see the Stone of Venus. Lito of Tharsis, who
interpreted correctly his desires, acceded patiently to it, unsheating the Wise Sword and
removing the ribbon from the hilt. An exclamation of astonishment and acceptance emerged
from the nine throats. And only then they expressed intentions in the Men of Stone. All have
unmounted and were placed behind Lito of Tharsis, admired at the same time for the rection of
their amphitryons. The old man, speaking the same Germanic dialect of the Amautas, but in
much clearer manner, asked:
–And the Princess? Have you brought the Princess?
Such interrogation disconcerted Lito, who turned back to cross a gaze with his relatives.
Thus he discovered the eyes of Violante of Tharsis, unrecognizable as a lady behind the
Dominican tunic, and suddenly he understood everything. Hitting his brow with the pal of his
hand he said smiling:
–Surely you are reffering to my cousin Violante. But you are right Noble Old man: She’s
a Princess of Tharsis! –Thereupon he removed the hood from leaving uncovered the
countenance of the Lady. When the old man saw her, and the ten Amautas, they smiled hitting
their brows with the palm of the hand too, imitating the gesture of Lito of Tharsis.
The old man was one of the Atumurunas, to whom the words in Quechua, pronounced
by Lito of Tharsis had invoked. But, who were the Atumurunas? According to what the old man
said, who after a narrated reception turned as sparing and laconic as the Amautas, the
Atumurunas belonged to a family: they were members of the House «Inga Kollman»:
«Inga», which meant «offspring», i.e., that the Atumurunas were the «offspring» of
Kollman.
That was comprehensible, explained Lito to the Men of Stone, due to the particle «ing»
meant offspring in the Germanic laguages, as in Merovingian or Carolingian; but, who was
Kollman? The old man refused to respond alleging that his relatives would explain it «in
Koaty, the Isle of the Moon». Where was located the «Isle of the Moon»?: «in the Lake
Titicaca, where they would arrive after a week of march». «The lateral path that guides to from
the Path of the Gods to Cuzco since days ago that they have left it behind; now they were in a
region not explored yet by Spaniards; but they had to hurry because the ‘ingas’ had news that
an expedition to the south was being prepared; the white Huancaquilli reached at last moment,
when the Atumurunas were desperated to fulfill the admonition of the Gods». And nothing
else was possible to wrest from the Atumuruna old man.
Seven days later they distinguished a colossal fortress of stone in what was the extreme
South of the Path of the Gods. The Path, in fact, ended in front of the fortress, and this, which
walls had the form of a half moon, was croppedby a mountain of unprecedent height.
Nevertheless the Path was not totally disrupted: a secret exit, only adequate for the
Hyperborean Initiates, permitted to cross through the obstacle. There they spent the night and
were persuaded by the old men to leave the equiptment and the animals there, due to they
could not transport it to the island. The next day they passed through the secret exit, previous
libation of the mysterious potion by the four Catalans and fifty warriors that were
accompanying them now: the Lords of Tharsis, instead, had just to situtate themselves before
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