Kingdom of the Golden Dragon (25 page)

The lama's answer was a broad smile that lit up his face, and he motioned for the young people to follow him. They went back the way they had come, in order to rejoin Nadia. Tensing went first, helping the girls, who had great difficulty making their way, dressed as they were in sandals and sarongs. They had no experience at all in moving across such steep terrain, but no one complained. They were too grateful to have been rescued from the Blue Warriors, and the gigantic monk inspired absolute confidence.

Alexander, who brought up the rear after the prince and Pema, took one last look at the pathetic group of bandits they were leaving behind. It seemed incredible to him that he had been part of a skirmish with professional killers: It was like a scene from an action film. He had just survived something nearly as violent as his experience in the Amazon, when Indians and
soldiers clashed and left several people dead, or when he had seen a couple of bodies that had been destroyed by the claws of the Beasts. He could not smother his smile; definitely, traveling with his grandmother Kate was not for softies.

Nadia watched her friends walking single file along the steep path that led to her hiding place, and ran out to meet them, greatly relieved that they were back. She stopped when she saw one of the Blue Warriors in the group. A second look told her it was Dil Bahadur. They had taken less time than they'd expected, but those few hours had seemed endless to her. During that time she had summoned her totemic animal with the hope that she could watch them from the air, but the white eagle had not appeared, and she'd had to resign herself to waiting with a knot in her throat. She learned that she could not transform herself into the great bird on a whim; that happened only in moments of great danger or of extraordinary mental clarity. The eagle represented her spirit, the essence of her character. When she'd had her first experience with her totemic animal in the Amazon, she'd been very surprised that it was a bird, since she suffered from vertigo and heights paralyzed her with fear. She had never dreamed of flying, like other young people she knew. If anyone had asked her what her totemic spirit might be, she would have answered, a dolphin, of course; that intelligent and playful animal was something she could identify with. The eagle, which flew with such grace above the highest peaks, had helped her a lot in overcoming her phobia, although sometimes she was still afraid of heights. At that very moment, the sight of the steep cliffs yawning at her feet made her tremble.

“Jaguar!” she called, and ran toward her friend.

Alexander's first impulse was to throw his arms around her, but he stopped in time; he didn't want
the others to think that Nadia was his girlfriend or anything like that.

“What happened?” she asked.

“Not much,” he replied with a gesture of feigned indifference.

“How did you free the girls?”

“Easy. We disarmed the bandits, beat them up, burned the scorpions, smoked out the cave, tortured one of the men to get information, and left the rest tied up without water or food to die a slow death.”

Nadia stood open-mouthed until Pema gave her a hug. The two girls quickly exchanged details about everything they'd gone through since they were separated.

“Do you know anything about that monk?” Pema whispered into Nadia's ear, pointing to Dil Bahadur.

“Not much.”

“What's his name?”

“Dil Bahadur.”

“That means ‘brave heart,' an appropriate name. Perhaps I will marry him,” Pema said.

“But you just met him! And he already asked you to marry him?” Nadia whispered, laughing.

“No. Usually monks don't marry. But possibly I will ask him if I get a chance,” Pema replied casually.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The Cliff

T
ENSING DECIDED THAT THEY
should eat something and rest before planning how to get the girls down to the floor of the valley. Dil Bahadur commented that there wasn't enough flour and
yak butter for everyone, but he offered his meager provisions to Pema and the girls, who hadn't eaten in many hours. Tensing asked him to build a fire to boil water for tea and to melt yak butter. As soon as that was ready, the monk dug into the folds of his tunic, where he usually carried his beggar's pouch, and, like a magician, began to extract handfuls of cereal, garlic, dried vegetables, and other foods for their meal.

“This is like the loaves and fishes you read about in the New Testament,” Alexander commented, amazed.

“My master is a very holy man. This isn't the first time I've seen him work miracles,” said the prince, bowing with profound respect before the lama.

“Perhaps your master is not so holy as he is quick with his hands, Dil Bahadur. There were great stores of provisions in the bandits' cave, and I didn't want to waste them,” the lama replied, bowing in turn.

“My master stole?” exclaimed the disciple, unbelieving.

“Let us say that your master borrowed,” said Tensing.

The young people exchanged a puzzled glance and then burst out laughing. This explosion of happiness worked like opening a valve through which the terrible anxiety and fear they had lived with for days could escape. Soon all of them were on the ground, rocking with uncontainable laughter while the lama amiably stirred the
tsampa
pot and served tea without any change in his serene face.

Finally the young people calmed down, but the minute the master served their austere meal, they doubled over again, unable to stop laughing.

“Possibly when you come to your senses, you will listen to my plan,” Tensing said, patient as ever.

The plan put an end to any idea of humor. What the lama proposed was nothing less than to lower the girls down the cliff face. They took one look over the edge and backed away, breathless: before them was approximately two hundred and forty feet of vertical fall.

“Master, no one has ever gone down there,” said Dil Bahadur.

“Perhaps the moment has come for someone to be the first,” Tensing replied.

All the girls started crying except Pema, who from the beginning had been an example of strength to the others, and Nadia, who right there and then decided she would rather die in the hands of the bandits or freeze in a glacier up at the peak than go down the face of that precipice. Tensing explained that if the girls used the shortcut, they could reach a village in the valley and ask for help before nightfall the next day. Otherwise, they would be stuck where they were and also run the risk that a band from the scorpion sect would find them. It was important to return the girls to their homes and to warn General Myar Kunglung so he could rescue the king from the fortified monastery before the bandits killed him. As for the master and Dil Bahadur, they would go on ahead in order to reach Chenthan Dzong as quickly as they could.

Alexander did not take part in the discussion, but began to study the matter. What would his father do in such a situation? Surely John Cold would find a way not only to get down the cliff but back up as well. His father had climbed steeper mountains than this, and had done it in midwinter, sometimes for pure sport and other times to help climbers who had met with an accident or become trapped. John was a cautious and methodical man, but no danger would stop him when it was a matter of saving a life.

“I think I can go down if I use my rappelling
equipment,” he said.

“How many feet is it?” Nadia asked, taking care not to look down.

“A lot. My rope won't reach that far, but there are several outcroppings, like ledges; we can stairstep the descent,” Alex explained.

“It may be possible,” Tensing replied, who had formulated his audacious plan after watching Alexander rescue Nadia from the ravine she'd fallen into.

“It's risky, but with luck I can do it; how, though, will we get these girls down? They have no experience in mountain climbing,” said Alexander.

“Possibly we will think of a way to do it,” the lama replied, and immediately asked for silence; it had been many hours since he had prayed.

While Tensing meditated, sitting on a rock facing the infinite heavens, Alexander measured his rope, counted his pitons, tested his harness, calculated his possibilities, and discussed the best way of carrying out this risky maneuver with the prince.

“If only we had a kite!” Dil Bahadur sighed.

He told his foreign friends that in the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon they practiced the ancient art of making silk kites in the form of birds with two sets of wings. Some were large and strong enough to carry a man standing between the wings. Tensing was an expert in that sport, and he had taught his disciple. The prince remembered his first flight a couple of years before, when during a visit to a monastery he had crossed between two mountains utilizing air currents that allowed him to steer his fragile craft while six monks held onto the end of the kite's long cord.

“You could die doing that,” said Nadia.

“It isn't as difficult as it seems,” the prince assured her.

“It must be like piloting a glider,” Alexander commented.

“An airplane with wings of silk. I don't think I'd like to try that,” Nadia said, thankful that there weren't any kites available.

Tensing prayed that the wind would be calm, for that would affect their attempt at a descent. He also prayed that the American boy had sufficient experience and determination, and that the others' courage would not falter.

“It's difficult to estimate the height from here, Master Tensing, but if my ropes will reach that narrow terrace you see down there, I can do it,” Alexander assured him.

“And the girls?”

“I will lower them one by one.”

“Except me,” Nadia interrupted firmly.

“Nadia and I want to go with you and Dil Bahadur to the monastery,” said Alexander.

“Who will take the girls on to the valley?” asked the lama.

“Perhaps the honorable master will allow me to do that,” said Pema.

“Five girls? Alone?” interrupted Dil Bahadur.

“Why not?”

“That is your decision, Pema, no one else's,” said Tensing, confident after observing the girl's golden aura.

“Possibly any of you can do it better than I can, but if the master authorizes me and will support me with his prayers, perhaps I can carry out my part with honor,” the girl offered.

Dil Bahadur was pale. He had decided, with the unshakable certainty of first love, that Pema was the only woman in the world for him. The fact that he had never known others, and that his experience was zero, did not enter into his thoughts. He was afraid that Pema would fall to her death from the cliff, or, should she reach the bottom safe and sound, that she would get lost or encounter other dangers. There were tigers in
that region, and he could not get the Sect of the Scorpion out of his mind.

“It's very dangerous,” he said.

“Perhaps my disciple has decided to go with the girls?” asked Tensing.

“No, master, I must help you rescue the king,” the prince murmured, lowering his eyes with embarrassment.

The lama led him aside, where the others couldn't hear.

“You must have faith in her. Her heart is as valiant as yours, Dil Bahadur. If it is your karma to be together, it will happen no matter what. If that is not to be, nothing you do can change the course of your life.”

“I didn't say I wanted to spend my life with her, master!”

Tensing smiled. “Perhaps it is not necessary for you to say so.”

Alexander decided to use the remaining daylight hours in preparing for the next day. First of all, he had to be sure that with his two fifty-yard ropes he could make the descent. He spent half an hour explaining to the others the basic principles of rappelling, from how to wear the harness, which they would sit in as they went down, to techniques for releasing and stopping the rope. The second rope would be used as a safety line. He didn't need it, but it would be indispensable for the girls.

“Now I'm going down as far as that ledge, and once I'm there I'll measure the distance to the bottom of the cliff,” he announced after he had secured his rope and put on the harness.

Everyone watched what he was doing with intense interest, except Nadia, who didn't dare look over the edge. To Tensing, who had spent his life climbing through the Himalayas like a mountain goat, Alexander's technology was engrossing. Amazed, he examined the strong,
light rope, the metal carabiners, the belaying devices, the ingenious harness. He watched Alexander give a wave of his hand and drop into the void, sitting in his harness. Alex used his feet to kick away from the vertical rock face and his hands to let out the rope so that he slipped down ten to fifteen feet at a time, with no apparent effort. In fewer than five minutes he reached the lip of the ledge. From above he looked very small. For half an hour, he measured the distance to the bottom with the second rope, which he carried coiled at his waist. Then he climbed back up, not as easily as he'd gone down, but with no major difficulty. Back on top, he was greeted with applause and happy cheers.

“We can do it, Master Tensing, the ledge is wide and firm enough to hold all five girls and me. The rope reaches the bottom, and I think I can teach them to use the harness. But there is one problem,” Alexander said.

“What is that?”

“I will need both ropes once I'm on the terrace, because they can't go down without a safety rope. One will be attached to the harness and the second to a piton I've driven into rock and left down there; that will help me ease the girls down. We really have to have that safety in case they lose control of the first rope, or if the system fails for some reason. Since they aren't experienced, they can't do it without that second rope.”

“I understand that, but we
have
two ropes; what is the problem?”

“We'll use those getting down to the terrace. Then you will drop them so I can secure them there and lower the girls to the bottom. I can't climb back up if both ropes are on the terrace. And I can't scale that vertical wall without gear. An expert climber could do it, over a matter of hours, but I don't think I can. It means that we will have to have a third rope of some kind,”
Alexander explained.