Skillful Death (38 page)

Dom and Diki rounded the mountain in the foothills. They could arrive faster over the top, but the slope was steep and Diki enjoyed roaming through the grass and flowers. The first night, Dom found a pretty field littered with big boulders and a tiny, bubbling stream. They made a small fire with collected sticks, and sat with their backs to a giant rock. Dom ate dried fish, and Diki nibbled on rice. She liked to pinch each grain and put it in her mouth. Broken grains went to Dom, who thanked her for each one.

In the morning, they washed their faces in the stream and continued their trek. Diki didn’t want to walk in the morning, so Dom hoisted her on his back and made good time. She rested her head on the back of his neck and continued her sleep.

When he crested a hill and saw the plain before him, Dom stopped to wake Diki. She gasped at the sight of a billion purple flowers spread out through the lush grass. In the distance, trees stood tall at the banks of a river. White animals, too far away to identify, grazed on the other side of the river.

Diki clamored to get down and she ran through the field, gathering a bouquet of the purple flowers. She wanted to bring them to the monks, but Dom doubted if the stems would survive her sweaty grip all the way up to the monks.
 

Dom called to Diki as he turned to start climbing. Somewhere above where the grass turned to scrub and gravel, the monks inhabited caves and dedicated their lives to worship and learning. These were the men Dom sought. Diki followed and slowed Dom down. She insisted on walking backwards up the hill, so she could see the pretty plain below them. Eventually, he coaxed her back into the harness on his back. He strapped her back to his so she could watch the world receding behind them.

They stopped for a snack after climbing a small ledge, and found themselves amidst rocky caves by late afternoon.

If Diki hadn’t heard the bells, they might have never found the monks.

She pointed east and giggled with joy when she heard the first bell. Dom didn’t hear it. The sound was nearly washed away by the wind, and only Diki’s young ears picked it out. When she begged him, with both her words and her hands pulling at his hair, Dom followed her pointing finger east.

“Again! I hear it!” Diki shouted.

Dom walked.

He heard the third ring, and when he rounded the big jutting arm of rock, they both laughed at the fourth ring. Dom jogged, Diki bouncing on his back, towards the cave mouth. A thin line of smoke gathered at the mouth of the cave, only to be torn away by the wind.
 

Diki begged to get down, but Dom kept her on his back as he stooped at the cave entrance.

“Hello?” Dom asked.

“Smoke hurts my eyes, Daddy,” Diki said.

Dom backed up a little.

“Hello?” Dom shouted.

A tiny man with black stubble on his shaved head arrived in a gather of robes. He stopped at the edge of the cave and bowed several times to Dom and Diki. He smiled, glanced at their eyes, and then bowed again.

Another man, even smaller than the first and with gray stubble, shuffled to the entrance and stopped. He looked up and studied Dom and Diki.

“She is too young,” he said. The old man began to turn around to leave.

“Too young for what?” Dom asked. “She is my daughter. I just brought her along to travel with me. I’m seeking information.”

“Oh, forgive me,” the man said. “Come in. Come in and sit down. We are just about to have tea.”

“Thank you,” Dom said. He knelt and helped Diki climb from the straps. She ran to a collection of stones near the mouth of the cave before Dom called her to his side. Dom and Diki joined the old man at the fire while the young man disappeared into the depths of the cave. Dom wondered how he could see anything in the inky black cave. Dom could barely see the old man’s peaceful smile in the dim light of the fire.

“Please, have a seat,” the old man said. Dom sat cross-legged and pulled Diki into his lap.

“My name is Dom, and this is my daughter, Diki.”

The old man smiled and nodded.

To fill the space, Dom spoke. “It’s a good thing you rang the bells. We would not have found you if we didn’t hear those bells.”

“Only four bells today,” the old man said. “We will open number two in one-thousand days.”

The young man appeared and placed a small basket at the knees of the old man.

“We do not have many visitors, but we keep special treats for those who come,” the old man said.
 

“What were you saying about one-thousand days?” Dom asked.

The old man focused on opening the basket. It had a lid made of woven reeds and strips of cloth. Apparently, the only way to open it was to untangle the weaving from the center. Even when the hole in the center was large enough to accommodate the old man’s hand, he didn’t stop pulling it apart until the entire lid was unraveled.
 

The old man smiled and offered the basket across the fire.

“Candy?” he asked.

“Thank you,” Dom said. He didn’t want any, but it seemed rude to decline after all that unraveling. Dom reached inside and took a small hard chunk of translucent, amber candy.
 

“Go ahead,” Dom said to Diki. She reached her tiny hand in the basket and pulled out a chunk of candy the size of her thumb. “Find a smaller one,” Dom said.

Diki reached to put the candy back, but the old man withdrew the basket and smiled. Dom folded his hand around Diki’s until he had a chance to try his own piece. It was sweet and tingly on his tongue. Dom smiled and allowed Diki to taste her own piece. The candy reminded him of sizzling, bloody meat.

The old man took a clay pot from the edge of the fire and poured a pungent, dark liquid into a small cup. Dom took a cup, but spared Diki the bitter liquid.

“We have five souls in the process of transformation,” the old man said. “We only heard four bells today, so one of our brothers may have taken the next step today. We have until sundown to hear the fifth bell. If we don’t, then we will open his tomb in one-thousand days to see if he has succeeded.”

“I don’t understand,” Dom said. “Who rang the bells?”

The old man smiled and nodded. “Five of our brothers prepared themselves, and are now meditating in the stone tombs you see around you.” He gestured with open arms.

Dom’s eyes had adjusted enough to the dark so he could see small openings carved into the sides of the cave. Five of the openings near the fire were walled over with rocks and dirt. Each opening had a stick projecting from the top, and at the end of the five sticks, hung five little bells.

“There are men in the walls?” Dom asked. He had heard of the ritual, but didn’t know it was still practiced.

“Brothers on the path to enlightenment. They seek to awake upon a new knowledge. Each day, they ring their bell so we will know if they have taken their first step on their last path. If they ring the bell, then they have not yet begun the journey.”

“What do they eat?” Diki asked. She gripped her candy in her fist and sucked on the edge.

“Their bodies are already prepared,” the old man said. “Before they went into their meditation tombs, they prepared their bodies for the final journey.”

Diki whispered in Dom’s ear, “I don’t want to go in the wall.”

“We won’t,” Dom whispered back.

“I’ve come to ask your help,” Dom said. He hoped to calm Diki by changing the subject away from the dying men in the walls.

The old man nodded.

“I don’t remember anything from when I was a child, but lately I’ve been encountering strange memories. I need to know how to release my old memories.”

“Release?”

“I mean, remember them. I want to be able to remember my old memories.”

“That is not release, that is binding,” the old man said.

“Yes, that’s a better word for it, I suppose,” Dom said. “I want to bind these old memories to myself once again.”

“We have exercises to help you with that. We can show you those exercises.”

“Perfect,” Dom said.

“To begin, you will need to find three ground squirrels,” the old man said.

“Pardon?”

“Three. Fat ones.”

“Okay?” Dom said. He sat and looked at his daughter, who still slurped on her candy.
 

“You may begin immediately,” the old man said.

Dom sat for another minute, wondering if he would receive any more instruction. When none came, he rose and carried Diki to the mouth of the cave.
 

“Squirrels,” he said.

“There’s one,” Diki said. She was pointing down the side of the mountain. Dom followed her finger and thought he caught a glimpse of movement farther down the slope, but it was too far to be sure.

“Let’s go then,” he said.

Dom let Diki walk on her own for the most part, but carried her down the steeper parts of the slope. When they reached the spot Diki pointed to, they found no signs of a squirrel. Diki pointed off to the west, and Dom felt sure he saw something in that direction. He did see a small animal as they drew closer. It could have been a squirrel, but the animal withdrew long before they arrived. Dom moved Diki several paces downwind and the two watched and watched to see if the squirrel would reappear.

When the sun descended over the western ridge, Dom and Diki picked their way back up to the cave. With less wind, they followed the tendril of smoke to the cave with the monks.

The young monk appeared at the mouth of the cave.

“I couldn’t find a squirrel,” Dom said.

The young man disappeared. The old man came to the front of the cave after a few minutes.

“I couldn’t find a squirrel,” Dom said.

“You will find them when you are meant to,” the old man said. “Please return when you have three fat squirrels.” The old man disappeared into the dark cave again.

Dom took Diki’s hand and the two picked their way down the slope to a flat area where they could camp for the night. Grateful for their overpacking, they ate well that night, but the cold rock beneath them sapped their heat. Diki woke Dom in the middle of the night. Dom slept on his back and balanced his daughter on his chest, so at least she could remain warm.
 

In the morning, Diki woke Dom again, and tugged at his hand. Dom threw off his blanket and followed his daughter down the hill. She didn’t speak, but pulled him to his knees and pointed at a cluster of rocks. He didn’t see the squirrel until it turned its head. It sat on its haunches atop a boulder and held its tiny paws to its face.

Dom picked up a rock and took a step towards the squirrel.
 

The squirrel turned towards him and chattered.
 

Dom threw his rock.

The squirrel ran off before the rock left Dom’s hand.

“I have to find a way to catch that squirrel,” Dom said.

“Can you throw the rock faster?” Diki asked.

“I don’t think a rock will do it.”

Dom returned to their campsite and picked through the possessions he had brought with them. They ate breakfast as he sorted through some bits of metal, hide, and string. His mind pictured a loose idea, but his fingers seemed to know exactly what they were doing. He created a complex snare on a tether. Should the squirrel enter from any direction, the snare would tighten on it.

With Pemba, Dom had often tried to catch mice and rats in the village. They’d return the next day to find their bait taken and their traps empty. Dom tied his snare to a heavy rock and picked out two plump nuts to use as bait. He took his snare back to rock.

While Dom made two more snares, Diki scouted the area for more squirrels. Their work consumed the morning. Diki wanted to go back and check on the first snare, but Dom wouldn’t let her.
 

“We have to wait for the end of the day,” he said.

“But what if the squirrel is caught now, and gets away?”

“Then we will try again tomorrow. We don’t want to scare the squirrel.”

“What will you do if we catch one?”

“We’ll take it to the monk,” Dom said.

“But what if it’s not dead yet?”

“Then we’ll help it along.”

To pass the afternoon, Dom and Diki walked down into the plain, collecting nuts and seeds. In the distance, they saw more bobbing heads of big white animals near the river. Dom boosted Diki into a plum tree, and she climbed as high as she could, looking for plums. The ground was littered with blossoms, but the fruit hadn’t come in yet.

They returned up the hill at sundown. They went first to their campsite, where they’d left their bag stowed on top of a tall rock. The bag was on the ground, but seemed otherwise unmolested.

Dom asked Diki to kindle a fire and heat water for tea while he checked the traps.

“I want to see the snares,” Diki said.

“I better go alone,” Dom said. “What if there’s a squirrel in a snare that’s not quite dead. You wouldn’t want to see that.”

“Okay,” Diki said.
 

If she had insisted, Dom would have brought up the bird. Diki had found an injured bird in Denpa’s back yard and tried to nurse it back to health. As the bird grew weaker, Diki lost her stomach for injured animals and begged Dom to take over. The bird died under his care, and Diki said she didn’t want to see injured animals ever again.

Dom’s first snare was empty. The nuts were gone. Dom moved the snare to the other side of the boulder and set it up again. This time he left three berries and placed them with even more care.
 

He had trouble finding the second snare. They’d left it next to a cluster of three rocks where Diki had spotted two big squirrels. Dom had set it up close to what he believed was an entrance to their den. He hunted in the failing light, but couldn’t find the snare. Eventually, he tripped on the tether. The rope trailed under a boulder. When Dom pulled, he found his snare and a big fat asphyxiated squirrel. Dom wrapped the squirrel in a rag and put it in his bag.
 

The third snare was nowhere near where they’d set it up. He wouldn’t have found the snare, except the squirrel who had dragged it away was chirping an alarm call. Dom followed the sound and in the twilight found the tangled rodent still trying to make an escape. Dom crushed its head with a rock and added it to his bag.