Andy McDermott - The Midas Legacy

‘Are you okay, Eddie?’ said Nina, worried.

‘Just got a bit of a shock, that’s all. Don’t put any weight on this one.’ He thumped the offending rung with a balled fist, taking a very careful look at the ones above before resuming his ascent.

The rest of the climb was made safely. To the visitors’ enormous relief, the top of the ladder led to the solidity of a ledge. The group advanced along it, crossing another section of planks before reaching a further ledge. Ahead, a second ladder continued upwards, but something beyond it caught Nina’s eye. ‘Are we here? Is that it?’

A squat wooden structure was tucked against the cliff, half buried in snow. ‘No,’ said Amaanat. ‘That is the shelter. I hope we will not need it.’ He drew back the cuff of his coat, revealing a watch. ‘Yes, you will be able to see what is inside the Midas Cave and return before sunset. The timing is perfect.’

‘Timing for what?’ she asked, but he began to scale the next ladder without answering.

Rudra went up behind him. Nina waited for Eddie to follow, but now he too was staring at something along the ledge — not the shelter, but a small crevice nearer to them. ‘That’s weird.’

‘What?’

‘The snow. I mean, the no snow.’ A teardrop-shaped gap in the white covering directly in front of the little opening revealed bare rock, a rime of frost glistening on it. ‘Looks like it’s melted.’

‘Why would it only melt there?’ Nina wondered.

‘Dunno.’ He glanced back at Jayesh as the Gurkha joined them. ‘Keep an eye out,’ he whispered to his friend.

‘You think they’re going to try something?’ said Nina.

‘I dunno what they’re going to do. Better safe than sorry, eh?’

The visitors made their way up the ladder. This one was fairly short, about thirty feet, and ended at a much larger and broader ledge strewn with boulders.

A cave entrance was set into the foot of the cliff, a small wooden hut to one side. As with the crevice below, the ground immediately before the opening was devoid of snow.

There was no indication that anyone else was already here, though: no footprints other than Amaanat’s and Rudra’s, no smouldering remains of fires. So what had caused the snow to melt?

‘Is that the Midas Cave?’ Nina asked, starting towards the entrance.

‘It is,’ replied Amaanat, holding up a hand to warn her back. ‘But you must wait before we can go inside.’

‘Why?’ asked Eddie.

‘You will see. In…’ he checked his wrist, ‘six minutes. Please, wait over there.’

The other monks assembled where the abbot had indicated, putting down their heavy packs. Now intrigued, Nina joined them, Eddie and Jayesh standing slightly apart from everyone else to maintain a discreet watch.

The minutes ticked by. ‘So whatever’s about to happen, it happens to a schedule?’ Nina asked Amaanat.

‘Always,’ he said. ‘You are lucky to be here at this time of the year. It begins at the end of winter and continues until summer. It has done so since Talonor first came to this place, and long before.’

‘And it always happens on time?’ said Eddie.

‘Yes.’

‘Whatever it is, we should get it to run the trains.’

Nina smiled, then looked at her own watch. Less than a minute, if Amaanat was right. Less than a minute before she had the answer that her mother had sought for so long…

She became aware of an odd, unsettling sensation, but couldn’t identify it — until she realised that the ground itself was shivering . A low rumble gradually became audible, a hiss rising above it. ‘What’s that?’

‘The dragon,’ announced Amaanat. ‘The dragon is breathing.’

No sooner had he spoken than the sound became a whooshing roar — and a great blast of steam burst from the cave mouth, sweeping across the bare stone before the dense cloud of rising vapour was caught by the wind, dispersing into tendrils. More rose from below as a smaller jet gushed out of the narrow crevice on the lower ledge. The thunderous expulsion continued for several seconds before fading. A few last puffs escaped the cave, then everything fell silent and still.

Eddie and Nina regarded the entrance in shock. ‘What the hell was that ?’ she said, wide-eyed.

The abbot gave her a gentle, knowing smile. ‘That,’ he said, ‘was the secret of the Midas Cave. And now I shall show it to you.’

The secret was not revealed immediately. To Nina’s rising frustration, Amaanat insisted that they wait before entering; because of the heat, he said, but she couldn’t help thinking there was more to it.

Her suspicion was confirmed several minutes later. Rudra went into the hut beside the steaming cave entrance, re-emerging clad in something that made her give Eddie a worried look. ‘ That’s reassuring.’

The monk wore a bright yellow hazmat suit, the thick plastic overall covering him from head to foot. More alarming still, he carried a boxy device that when turned on emitted an ominous crackling noise. ‘Is that a Geiger counter?’ said Eddie, taking an involuntary step backwards.

Nina was equally horrified. ‘The cave’s radioactive?’

Amaanat raised his hands to placate them. ‘The steam is radioactive, not the cave. It will be safe, but we must wait for the readings to fall before we can go inside.’

‘How long will that take?’

‘Not long. Please, be patient.’

Rudra disappeared inside the tunnel. Minutes passed, then he returned, pulling back the hazmat suit’s hood. ‘It is clear,’ he announced. The Geiger counter was still growling, but at a much lower level.

Amaanat spoke to the other monks, and all but one took metal containers the size of large paint tins from their backpacks. Their contents were much heavier than paint, though. One monk’s fingers slipped, his canister dropping the few inches to the ground with a thud that sounded as if someone had pounded the earth with a sledgehammer.

Meanwhile, the man who had carried the ropes produced something about the size of a basketball, wrapped in thick layers of cloth. From the reverent way he handled it, it was clearly of great value. Nina was about to ask what it was, but the abbot spoke first. ‘Please, follow me.’

Jayesh lit another cigarette. ‘I’ll stay here,’ he told Eddie. ‘Keep my eyes open.’

‘See you soon,’ Eddie replied. A nod was the only reply he needed for reassurance.

Rudra had by now removed the protective suit and returned it and the Geiger counter to the hut. He emerged carrying a pair of lanterns. They were clockwork; he gave a charged one to Amaanat, then began winding the handle to power up the other. ‘He will follow us inside,’ said Amaanat as he switched on his light and entered the cave. ‘This way.’

‘You absolutely sure it’s safe?’ Eddie asked. ‘I don’t want to end up with an extra head growing out of my stomach like Kuato.’ Nina looked askance at him. ‘From Total Recall ,’ he added.

‘I know.’

‘The original, not the crappy remake.’

‘I know .’

He flapped his hands before his chest and put on a croaky voice. ‘“Start the reactor!”’

‘Will you be quiet ?’

‘There is nothing to fear,’ the monk told them as he made his way deeper. ‘But we must leave before the next burst of steam. Which will be in…’ he consulted his watch, ‘forty-six minutes.’

Nina examined the walls, and the wooden beams supporting them. The condition of neither made her feel safer. But there was something odd about the rock, she realised. As they moved away from the entrance, she caught faint glints of reflected lamplight from all around, as if tiny flecks of metal were embedded in the walls.