Kitabı oku: «Cowboy Showdown»

Cover

Title Page

Dedication

Prologue

Chapter 1: Drum Roll, Please

Chapter 2: Mirror, Mirror

Chapter 3: All That Glitters

Chapter 4: Deadwood

Chapter 5: Yee-ha!

Chapter 6: Stagecoach Stick-up

Chapter 7: A Shot in the Dark

Chapter 8: Round Up a Posse

Chapter 9: Showdown at High Noon

Chapter 10: Just Desserts

Weapons

Wild West Timeline

Time Hunters Timeline

Fantastic Facts

The Hunt Continues …

Discover a New Time Hunters Quest!

Copyright

About the Publisher

1500 AD, Mexico

As far as Zuma was concerned, there were only two good things about being a human sacrifice. One was the lovely black pendant the tribal elders had given her to wear. The other was the little Chihuahua dog the high priest had just placed next to her.

I’ve always wanted a pet, thought Zuma, as the trembling pup cuddled beside her. Though this does seem like an extreme way to get one.

Zuma lay on an altar at the top of the Great Pyramid. In honour of the mighty Aztec rain god, Tlaloc, she’d been painted bright blue and wore a feathered headdress. The entire village had turned out to watch the slave girl be sacrificed in exchange for plentiful rainfall and a good harvest. She could see her master strutting in the crowd below, proud to have supplied the slave for today’s sacrifice. He looked a little relieved too. And Zuma couldn’t blame him. As slaves went, she was a troublesome one, always trying to run away. But she couldn’t help it – her greatest dream was to be free!

Zuma had spent the entire ten years of her life in slavery, and she was sick of it. She knew she should be honoured to be a sacrifice, but she had a much better plan – to escape!

“Besides,” she said, frowning at her painted skin, “blue is not my colour!”

“Hush, slave!” said the high priest, Acalan, his face hidden by a jade mask. “The ceremony is about to begin.” He raised his knife in the air.

“Shame I’ll be missing it,” said Zuma. “Tell Tlaloc I’d like to take a rain check.” As the priest lowered the knife, she pulled up her knees and kicked him hard in the stomach with both feet.

“Oof!” The priest doubled over, clutching his belly. The blade clattered to the floor.

Zuma rolled off the altar, dodging the other priests, who fell over each other in their attempts to catch her. One priest jumped into her path, but the little Chihuahua dog sank his teeth into the man’s ankle. As the priest howled in pain, Zuma whistled to the dog.

“Nice work, doggie!” she said. “I’m getting out of here and you’re coming with me!” She scooped him up and dashed down the steps of the pyramid.

“Grab her!” groaned the high priest from above.

Many hands reached out to catch the slave girl, but Zuma was fast and determined. She bolted towards the jungle bordering the pyramid. Charging into the cool green leaves, she ran until she could no longer hear the shouts of the crowd.

“We did it,” she said to the dog. “We’re free!”

As she spoke, the sky erupted in a loud rumble of thunder, making the dog yelp. “Thunder’s nothing to be scared of,” said Zuma.

“Don’t be so sure about that!” came a deep voice above her.

Zuma looked up to see a creature with blue skin and long, sharp fangs, like a jaguar. He carried a wooden drum and wore a feathered headdress, just like Zuma’s.

She knew at once who it was. “Tlaloc!” she gasped.

The rain god’s bulging eyes glared down at her. “You have dishonoured me!” he bellowed. “No sacrifice has ever escaped before!”

“Really? I’m the first?” Zuma beamed with pride, but the feeling didn’t last long. Tlaloc’s scowl was too scary.

“I’m sorry!” she said quietly. “I just wanted to be free.”

“You will never be free!” Tlaloc hissed. “Unless you can escape again …”

Tlaloc banged his drum, and thunder rolled through the jungle.

He pounded the drum a second time, and thick black clouds gathered high above the treetops.

“This isn’t looking good,” Zuma whispered. Holding the dog tight, she closed her eyes.

On the third deafening drum roll, the jungle floor began to shake and a powerful force tugged at Zuma. She felt her whole body being swallowed up inside … the drum!

Tom Sullivan hurried ahead of his dad. He was never able to just walk through the museum where his dad worked. Tom was a history fanatic and he loved being at the museum – there was always so much to see!

“C’mon, Dad,” he urged. “I want to look at the ‘Treasures of the Aztec World’ exhibition before it opens next week.”

“It’s not quite finished yet,” Dad warned. “There are still lots of artefacts in shipping crates.”

“I don’t mind,” said Tom. “I can help you unpack.”

Tom loved helping his dad at the museum, especially when it was closed to the public. Then he could make as much noise as he wanted, and study the displays without the crowds.

As they reached the Egyptian hall, Tom felt a rush of excitement. Not long ago, in this very place, he’d accidentally broken an ancient statue and freed the princess Isis from a curse. Together, they had travelled through time to find the six lost amulets Isis needed to enter the Afterlife. They’d met pirates and Vikings and Roman gladiators. But even though they’d faced fearsome opponents, Tom and Isis had managed to collect all six jewels.

It had been the most amazing experience of Tom’s life.

Weeks had passed since he and Isis had had their last adventure, and life was much quieter now. Actually, Tom was surprised to find it was a little too quiet.

Finally, they reached the Aztec room. As soon as they entered the hall, Tom gasped. He felt as though he’d just stepped back in time to Ancient Mexico. There were still several unpacked crates and boxes, but the things that had been unloaded were amazing.

“The Aztecs created a truly great empire,” his father explained. “It reached its peak around 1500 AD. But in my opinion, their most brilliant contribution was discovering something we could not live without.”

“What’s that?” asked Tom.

“Chocolate!”

“Chocolate?” Tom laughed. “Well, I guess we really owe them then!” He pointed to a model of a twin pyramid with a squared-off top. “What’s this?”

“That’s the Great Temple in Tenochtitlan,” said Dad. “It was dedicated to the gods Tlaloc and Huitzilopochtli.”

“Hoo-zee whatsy?”

Before Dad could reply, a woman appeared in the doorway. “Dr Sullivan, there’s a call for you,” she said.

“I’ll be right back,” said Dad, heading to his office. “Take a look round, but be careful and don’t touch anything.”

Tom studied the displays. He saw clay statues with wide mouths and big ears, sword-like weapons and documents written in a strange language. There was even a carved wooden box that looked like a treasure chest.

In a corner he found a wooden cylinder carved with strange symbols. The label explained it was a drum that belonged to the rain god, Tlaloc, who would bang it to create thunder! Beside it lay two mallets.

This I’ve got to hear! thought Tom. He reached for one of the mallets, then quickly drew back his hand. Tom knew the rules, but his fingers were itching. It was as if the drum were begging him to play it. He knew he shouldn’t, but he was just too curious.

Tom glanced round to be sure there was nobody else in the room. Then he picked up a mallet and gently swung it down.

To his shock, an enormous roll of thunder exploded from the drum. Aztec objects shook on their shelves as the sound echoed through the room.

Suddenly, Tom wasn’t alone any more.

Standing in front of him was a girl about his age. At least he thought she was a girl. But he’d never seen a blue girl wearing a feathered headdress before.

“You freed me from that drum!” the girl exclaimed, throwing her arms round Tom. “Thank you!”

Tom stepped back and nearly tripped over something scampering beneath his feet. A little dog was wildly wagging its tail and nipping at Tom’s trainers.

“Don’t mind him,” said the girl. “He’s just showing you how grateful he is. He was trapped in the drum too.”

“I didn’t mean to do anything,” said Tom, reaching down to pat the tiny dog.

The girl frowned as she looked round the Aztec hall. “Some of these things look familiar,” she said, pointing to a shelf full of pottery. “But you don’t.” She narrowed her eyes. “Are you my new master?”

“Your new what?”

The next thing Tom knew, the girl was shifting from foot to foot like a boxer – elbows cocked, hands curled into fists.

“Well, you can forget it,” she said. “I’ll never be a slave again. I’ll fight you for my freedom if I have to!”

Tom had no intention of fighting with this feathery blue stranger. “I’m not your master! I just banged the drum and the next thing I knew, you appeared.”

“Oh.” The girl dropped her fists and grinned. “Then I’m very glad you got me out of there. My name’s Zuma. I’m an Aztec slave. Or at least, I used to be.”

Once again, the museum was rocked by an ear-splitting thunderclap. But this time Tom and the drum had nothing to do with it. The little dog yelped and jumped into Zuma’s arms. Heavy rain began to fall … inside the museum!

Maybe something set off the sprinkler system? Tom thought. But since when did the sprinkler system include thunder? Something very strange was going on.

“Help me cover the artefacts,” Tom shouted. “We have to protect them!”

“You sound like a master,” Zuma grumbled. She put down the dog and dashed about after Tom, putting the ancient objects in glass display cases.

They only managed to rescue a few items before another rumble of thunder shook the room. A second stranger appeared before Tom. This one had blue skin and fancy feathers. Only he was enormous!

Zuma and the dog looked nervous. Tom could only stare.

“Please tell me this is your much larger, but extremely friendly, twin brother,” Tom whispered.

Zuma shook her head. “He’s Tlaloc, the rain god,” she whispered. “I was supposed to be sacrificed to him, but I escaped.” She rolled her eyes. “I can’t believe he’s still angry about that.”

“Take it from me,” Tom muttered, thinking of the Egyptian god Anubis. “These gods like to hold a grudge.”

Tlaloc picked up the wooden drum and the rain stopped.

“Zuma! You have escaped your prison after five hundred years!” Tlaloc roared. The clay bowls clattered on their glass shelves. “But you are not free yet!”

The rain god pointed one huge finger at the treasure chest. The lid lifted with a loud creak. Even though he was scared, Tom was impressed by the god’s magic. The chest was filled with gold coins, each bearing the image of an Aztec sun. Tlaloc waved his hand and six shiny coins rose out of the chest and sailed across the room. They landed with a jangle in his palm.

“You must find these six sun coins in order to earn your freedom,” Tlaloc announced. “When you have collected all six, you can return to your time as a free person.”

The god banged the drum and thunder rumbled. He waved his hand and a powerful wind gusted through the room, bringing with it a thick, white mist. Tlaloc tossed the coins into the mist. For a moment they spun, shining in the air. Then the wind howled again and they vanished.

“What’s happening?” Zuma cried, her feathered headdress flapping wildly.

Tom was pretty sure he knew what was coming next. Heart pounding, he reached down and scooped up the little dog as the mist surrounded them. “Grab my hand,” he shouted, “and hold on tight!”

“Where are we going?” Zuma cried.

The edges of the museum began to fade as the mist swirled into a whirlwind. “I’m not sure where … or when … we’ll land,” Tom shouted above the howl of the cyclone. “But one thing I do know – it’s going to be an adventure!”