Vicuña of the East

Pedro Arias Dávila, governor of Panama, waits anxiously in his office, awaiting word from the second expedition of Francisco Pizarro to Peru. Unsure that he put his trust in the right place when Pizarro won him over, he sits and watches as a messenger enters to deliver the unfortunate news.

In OTL, Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of the Inca Empire, and his men, on their second expedition in 1526, stopped in the northern part of present-day Ecuador, which was recently put under Inca rule. When Pizarro came ashore, he was quickly enveloped by thousands of hostile natives. Completely surrounded, the conquistadores had little hope of escape. A Spaniard fell off his horse, and the natives believed that the horse and rider, who they thought to be one entity, had mysteriously divided in two. Fearing the supernatural, the natives fled immediately.

But what if Pizarro didn't survive the incident? Say some of his expedition's horses contracted and died of colic. He could not turn back or call for reinforcements because it would mean he would lose support of the governor of Panama. With nothing to lose, he continued on his expedition. Near Tumbes, one of his crewmembers managed to kidnap a raft of natives. Confident in his findings, his party heads back. Stopping in what is in OTL northern Écuador, Pizarro and his crew disembarked from the ship in hopes of entering the land. However, before they could return, they were instantly surrounded by thousands of Ecuadorians. Because some of the Spaniards were on horses and others not, the Ecuadorians recognized humans mounted on the great Vicuña of the East…