Patrick Woodhead - The Cloud Maker (2010)

Bill and Luca shot each other glances before Shara turned back to them.

‘Gyaltso wants me to tell you about a proposition he has for you. He says that if you want to climb these mountains, he will show you a way up through the rock-face.’

Luca sat up, almost leaning into the fire in his excitement. ‘You’re serious? He really knows a way up the face?’ As Shara made to answer, he added, ‘Ask him about the first section of rock, Shara. It’s a gulley, isn’t it?’

Bill also was watching her intently.

‘Is there something further on from the village? Something we haven’t seen yet?’ he asked.

Shara raised her hands. ‘I’m sorry, I don’t know the way myself, but Gyaltso would be able to show you. If you agree, of course.’

Luca had levered himself up so that he was on his knees.

‘There’s really a way?’ he said incredulously, staring over at the monk in excitement. ‘I’ve been over and over that face all day and I couldn’t see a thing.’

‘Shara, how does an old monk from the Gelugpa sect know the way up a technical rock face?’ Bill said suddenly. ‘And if there really is a route, then surely that means the mountains have already been climbed?’

‘I said the summits had never been climbed. The lower slopes have. And to answer your question, when he was younger Gyaltso used to go up there every summer, searching for rare herbs. That’s how he knows of a route.’

‘Rare herbs?’ Bill repeated. ‘Didn’t think there would be many of those on an icy glacier . . .’

‘I’m told there are certain lichens that grow on the rocks at these altitudes,’ Shara replied, her face tilted towards the fire. ‘There are many ingredients from the mountains used in our traditional remedies. But, of course, now that he is getting frail, Gyaltso looks to me to continue his work.’

‘You? You’re going up into the mountains?’ Bill asked, glancing at her slight figure.

‘Yes.’

‘By yourself?’

Shara sighed, continuing to stare into the fire.

‘No. There was a guide here at the village who was due to lead me, but he has fallen sick, like everyone else.’

The old monk’s watery eyes had been switching back and forth between them the whole time. He fidgeted forward, pulling on Shara’s sleeve once again, asking for a translation. They spoke quickly, then she turned to Bill and Luca once more.

‘He wants to know if you accept the condition.’

‘Yeah, of course we do,’ Luca said. ‘I want to see this route he’s discovered.’

‘Hold on a second,’ Bill said. ‘What condition? You just said he would show us the way up the rock-face.’

Shara pushed her hair back from her eyes. For the first time her confident expression slipped a little.

‘The condition is you’d have to take me with you.’

As the men glanced at each other, Shara laid a hand on the monk’s arm. Then she looked up at Bill and Luca. ‘It’s a lot to ask, I know, so perhaps we should give you some time to think about it. ‘We’ll leave you in peace.’

Climbing to her feet, she helped the old monk to his.

‘Good night, gentlemen,’ she said, and with brief bows she and the monk retreated from the light of the fire.

Stoking some more dried yak dung on to the flames, Luca stared at Bill, who hadn’t said a word since the visitors had left.

‘Christ,’ exclaimed Luca. ‘What a piece of luck, eh?’

‘I wouldn’t be so sure,’ Bill said, shaking his head. ‘Something’s not right about all of this. It sounds too easy.’

‘Will you stop worrying for once? Let’s just go with it and see what happens. Worst case – the old monk doesn’t have a clue how to get up the rock-face and we’re back to square one.’ He stared across at Bill, studying his closed expression. ‘Is this about earlier today? She was pretty harsh about the antibiotics but . . .’

Bill frowned. ‘I don’t give a shit about the antibiotics. It’s this whole situation. We’re looking for a route up and suddenly, here she is, all smiles and bargains.’

Luca thought for a second, then the corners of his mouth curled into a smile. ‘You know what I reckon it is? I reckon you’re just pissed off because an attractive girl came out of the middle of nowhere and tore a strip off you.’

Bill didn’t rise to the comment but instead remained motionless, staring into the embers of the fire. Luca inhaled deeply, then raised an eyebrow.

‘Why don’t you just give her the benefit of the doubt? And besides, its not like we’ve got a whole load of other options.’

For a long while Bill didn’t speak. Eventually he nodded his head in agreement.

‘Guess you’re right,’ he said. ‘Right now, I suppose she’s all we’ve got.’

Chapter 26

The four of them stood with their heads bent back, eyes following the old monk’s grubby forefinger as it traced a line down the sheer wall of rock.

In the misty morning light, the buttress of the mountain resembled the knuckles of a giant’s fist, scoured with cracks and fissures, seemingly impenetrable. But as the monk’s finger traced a line down the rock face, Luca’s vision blurred as it had done the day before and he suddenly realised what the old man was trying to show them.

‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ he muttered under his breath.

‘What is it?’ asked Bill, standing just behind him.

‘That crack he’s pointing to . . . look at it again.’ Luca cocked his head to one side as his eyes swept up along the contour of the rock-face. What had appeared to be a large crack running from the base to halfway up the rock-face was, in fact, a narrow ledge. Like staring at the inkblots of a Rorschach test, Luca’s eyes suddenly reversed their focus and what had simply been a fissure in the rock, now became something wide enough for a human to stand on.

Bill shook his head. ‘I can’t see it.’

‘You have to kind of unfocus your eyes,’ Luca answered distractedly.

After a few moments, Bill began to smile. ‘Jesus, yes. I see it now.’

Luca shook his head in disbelief, turning to where the old monk stood.

‘How the hell did you find that?’

The old man smiled then looked pointedly over at Shara who stood staring up at the cliff-face, her expression unreadable.

Luca turned back to the cliff. Even with the ledge, it was still going to be one hell of a climb. Not for the first time since last night, he wondered if they would be able to keep their side of the bargain. After they had decided to accept the monk’s condition, the four of them had talked more over breakfast that morning. They were to get Shara above the cliff and on to the flat of the glacier beyond. Once there, they would set up a base camp from which they could tackle some of the nearby peaks and she, in turn, would be able to collect her herbs. A week later, they would all descend together.

As Luca stood there, staring up at the route, he felt a tap on his shoulder. Bill motioned for him to step away from the others and the pair of them moved closer to the cliff. Opening their rucksacks, they began laying out ropes and hardware on the ground in neat piles.

‘I’m still not sure about this at all,’ said Bill in a low voice. ‘Are you buying this whole rare herb thing? We’ve been up in the mountains a thousand times and nothing grows at that altitude.’

Luca shrugged, squatting down to count the pile of climbing bolts.

‘Maybe it’s possible you get lichen or something up there. Who knows?’

‘It just doesn’t make any sense. I got the feeling last night that the whole charm offensive happened because the old fella had forced her into making a deal with us.’ Bill scratched the side of his face distractedly. ‘I wonder why that would be?’