Sat, Jan 22, 1983
Mendoza, having crash-landed the condor, has escaped to find Pedor and Sancho. He explains to his two friends how he has spotted an island in the lake at the exact spot indicated by Papacamayo as the site of the City of gold. But Menator too has spotted the island. Esteban and Zia reach the island after escaping from the Olmeque craft and they are welcomed by the Indians there. A masked High Priest explains how they were expected and leads them to the Gate of the City. Gaspard and Gomez meanwhile, set out to swim to the island. Mendoza, Sancho and Pedro have had the same idea, and leaving Wanacocha to find reinforcements from his village, begin to swim. As the High Priest is showing Esteban and Zia the Gate that they alone can open with their pendants, the Olmeque machine approaches the exterior gate. Menator demands that access be granted them and threatens the life his prisoner Tao, swinging him out of the flying machine, suspended on a slender rope. Only Esteban can make the decision to open. He agrees, provided Menator frees Tao first. Menator agrees. Esteban and Zia now open the gates as the High Priest tells them the history of the Cities and the pendants, explaining the destruction of the mighty civilizations that built them. Esteban and Zia enter the gate and marvel at the wonderful sight before them: a City of Gold.
Sat, Feb 5, 1983
Menator and Kalmeque regain their base and set up the vase, the Great Olmeque Inheritance, as their eternal source of power. In the City of Gold, the Hight Priest is most anxious. He knows that the Olmeque's Great Inheritance has been treated wrongly and that as a result all life will be destroyed. The only way to prevent such disaster, he tells our friends, is the vase. They make a stretcher for the Priest, so seriously wounded by Kalmeque, and the children then bear him to the Mountain of the Smoking Shield. Already the ill-effects of the Heritage are to be seen as toxic gases are killing plants and animals. The Priest orders the children to turn back and he continues alone. Meanwhile, Mendoza has learned from the guardians of the City of Gold that the High Priest is none other than Esteban's father. But Mendoza keeps this to himself, knowing that the news would be too much for Esteban to bear. The High Priest goes into the Olmeque base and manages to place Tao's vase in the center of the Inheritance. He is immediately destroyed by the blinding light which erupts. The next morning, the City of Gold has completely disappeared. Sancho is heartbroken to have taken none of the gold but Mendoza has a fine surprise for him. He had time to pick up a few ingots, enough for them to be able to achieve wealth and great success at home. Esteban, Tao and Zia decide to continue on their adventures and find the other six Cities of Gold, while Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho will return home to Spain. They agree to go their separate ways but to meet again soon in the tavern in Barcelona where they all met for the very first time.
Sat, Nov 6, 1982
On their way to the forest of stone statues, our friends spot the Doctor and Marinchè in the company of Teteola who must have freed them in the meantime. Mendoza suggests leaving them alone as they are ignorant of the second manuscript. Sancho and Pedro stop for a few moments to rest when Pichu sees something unexpected. The children follow the parrot to a huge river. Mendoza suggests that they build a raft and follow the river which seems to be flowing in the direction they want to take. Our friends float peacefully downstream until they come to some rapids. The raft is broken up but the group manages to meet again on shore where they find the stone statues. Pedro and Sancho are soon heard. They have discovered golden dust. Mendoza and the children join them and they then notice a passage in a grotto which they decide to follow. They come upon a temple where they find a statue of a plumed serpent lying shattered on the ground. Tao thinks that only a great heat could have brought such a statue down. On a large door our friends then notice engravings representing the winged serpent. Tao suggests that Esteban use his medallion to capture the sun's rays. Sure enough, they eyes of the serpent begin to glint and the door collapses, taking with is the sections of the wall on either side. Inside the temple a golden statue holds a manuscript between its hands. Pichu fetches it and gives it to Tao who interprets it for them all: "The sky will begin to boil on that day. The dust will fall to earth and huge clouds will build up over the sea". Tao is most put out: he does not understand the message. Suddenly Esteban notices that some letters of the manuscript are more visible that others. The ingenious Tao decides that they have not all been written in the same ink. He soaks the manuscript in some water and a new message appears. "To the west of the land of the Mayas, look for the mountain of the Smoking Shield". Our friends set out once more, growing closer to the City of Gold.
Sat, Aug 21, 1982
Heading for the mountains of Pacha Mama Esteban and his friends come across Kuruga who has been wounded. He is laying on the ground, abandoned by his people because he failed in his attack on the village. Taking pity on him, the children give him their water. To thank them, Kuruga tells them that the Urubus are preparing to capture Zia, to offer her up as sacrifice to Pacha Mama. He advises them to escape through the Valley of the Dead where the Urubus never dare to go. The little group crosses the valley with difficulty but manages to escape from the clutches of the Urubus. As night is falling on the Andes, Esteban suddenly notices a bright light in the sky. He is sure that it must be the star of Kogolite. According to the words of the Wise Man of the Old Peak "You must place the two medallions of the sun there, where the Sun God crosses Kogolite. The moment the two medallions leave the Moon Goddess and are placed on the chest of the Goddess of the Earth, the gate of the City of Gold will open". Finding a statue of the goddess Pacha Mama, exactly where it was indicated, Zia and Esteban lay their pendants on the chest of the statue and the wall opens. Behind, the friends see a temple where they notice a sun emblem identical to the one on the pendants. Esteban draws out the central section and a beam of bright light shines from the heart of the blazon. A giant condor of solid gold rises up in the middle of the temple. Our friends look on amazed.
Sat, Aug 28, 1982
Having fallen asleep beside the Great Condor, Esteban and his friends are awoken by an earthquake. While Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho head down below the temple to try to discover what is happening, Esteban and Tao climb up the condor in order to see the quip that Pichu has discovered in the giant bird's beak. Suddenly overcome by dizziness, Esteban falls into a cavity which turns out to be the control cabin of the Condor. In the meantime, Zia has deciphered the message of the quip: "A danger is closing in on town. All the inhabitants have already left for the land of the Mayas, but in the event of danger, the Great Condor will come to their aid". While this has been happening, Pedro and Sancho have discovered a secret passage which leads them all to a well bearing the mark of the Great Condor. They take the stone stairs down inside the well, where they discover a grotto and a sheet of boiling lava. They realize that it is a crater which is about to erupt and so our friends fell back to the inside of the temple as the earth trembles under their feet. Before long, the ceiling of the temple collapses and the light floods in, shining on the blazon of the wall. This blazon begins to turn and reflects the light back to the Condor. The head of the bird begins to move up and down. All the time, the walls of the temple are crumbling around them, as our friends take refuge in the control cabin of the bird. A last eruption completely destroys the town and shoots the Condor out of the temple. Hardly knowing what to do, our friends have the idea of placing their pendants on the blazon in the Condor's control cabin. This sets off a mechanism: the golden bird begins to fly and it rises up into the skies.
Sat, Oct 16, 1982
In their flight, Esteban, Tao and Zia arrive before a lake with what appears to be gold lining the bottom. To investigate, the children draw near and are soon taken by a group of Indians led by the Doctor and Marinché. The children have desecrated the holy source and must be sacrificed in a ceremony of purification. From a young Indian girl who secretly brings them food, Zia learns that her father Papacamajo has passed this way. He asked the chief Tarashingo to show him the manuscript and then continued his travels, in search of the City of Gold. Tao realizes that there is something in common between this manuscript and that which Marinché now has. In the meantime, Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho, guided by Pichu, arrive at the edge of the lake to witness the ceremony of purification at the same time as the Doctor and Marinché. The chief of the village, Tarashingo, goes into the lake with his body covered in gold. The Indians then throw precious stones into the water. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho realize that they are on an artificial wall which holds back the waters of the lake. They decide to breach the wall so that during the night the lake will empty, flooding the village and they will be able to pick up the gold and the precious stones without anyone being able to follow them. The next day, the children, prisoners in the temple, hear a great noise and are suddenly surrounded by water. Seeing Mendoza and his two companions, the children realize who has broken the dam. They escape through a crack in a wall as it begins to crumble and they join the three men, guided by Pichu who has in the meantime, got back the manuscript from Marinché. Mendoza, Pedro and Sancho are disappointed not to have got any of the gold or stones but now, armed with the precious manuscript that will lead them to the Cities of Gold, they set off with the children for new adventures.
Sat, Dec 11, 1982
The Great Condor lands at the village of the tribe of the New Sun. A crowd has gathered around Papacamayo and Mendoza tells the children that the chief is wounded. Recognising her father, Zia falls into his arms. Papacamayo tells her that he will now reveal the secret of the Cities of Gold. First he tells how all began when Pizarro discovered the golden quip. Searching for the High Priest who could interpret it for him, Papacamayo, Pizarro had the old man's village attacked and the people massacred. Zia was carried off by the soldiers and only Papacamayo escaped. Since then, he had taken it on himself to find the Cities of Gold before the Spaniards. Papacamayo tells them that the entrance to the City is to be found between the Mountain and the three ruined cities. He warns them that inside the great temple of gold, they will find an inestimable treasure that must, in no event, fall into the hands of the Olmeques. His secret told, Papacamayo dies, to Zia's great distress. Meanwhile in the Olmeque's base there is panic as they are running low of energy in their crystal tower. They must find the treasure hidden in the Cities of Gold in order to continue their work. In the village of the New Sun, Papacamayo's funeral rites are observed. Then Wanacocha, Esteban and Tao set off to try to persuade the other Maya chiefs to join their combat against the Olmeques. But in vain: Wanacocha and his men must fight alone. The children, however, all pledge their allegiance and Mendoza too is willing to help, if only to prove how a Spaniard too can do battle. Finally all the Maya tribes change their minds in order to rid themselves once and for all of the Olmeque terror.