Patrick Woodhead - The Cloud Maker (2010)

As Dorje smiled warmly, Luca turned to address the screen in front of him.

‘You’ve got nothing to fear from us,’ he said, seeing the silhouette bend forward attentively. ‘We won’t tell anyone about this place. No matter what happens, I give you my word.’

Dorje moved closer to the screen, and Luca waited patiently as he whispered to the Abbot beyond.

‘His Holiness is most pleased that we have reached such an agreement. He thanks you for your trust.’

Dorje bowed, then signalled towards the door by which Luca had arrived. The young aide drew back the bolts.

‘Young Norbu will return you to your quarters, and later this evening I shall take you to visit Mr Taylor.’

‘Thank you, Dorje,’ Luca said, and with a nod towards the screen, followed Norbu out of the room. Dorje waited until the door had closed once again before turning back to the hidden figure.

‘ Do you think he suspects the truth? ’ he asked.

The outline behind the screen leaned forward. When he spoke, his voice was slow and deliberate.

‘ I believe not. ’

‘ So, do you wish that we now let them leave? ’

The figure slowly got to his feet, gathering his robes closer to his body.

‘I do not yet understand why they are here, but I know that they have been sent for a reason. Until such time as this becomes clear to me, they will remain within our walls.’

Dorje bowed low as the figure withdrew into an unseen annexe behind the screen. Then he walked towards the door of the chamber, his brow furrowed with concern once more. The Abbot was taking a terrible risk. It could only be a matter of time before the Westerners discovered the truth.

Chapter 42

Shara swept down the corridor, the boy clasped in her arms. Every so often she paused to shift his weight from one arm to the other causing his head to loll against her chest. At the movement, a soft murmur escaped his lips and his eyes shut tight from pain.

A wide cut ran over the top of the boy’s knee. With her spare hand, Shara pressed down against it causing a thin trickle of blood to fan out over her fingers and down the length of his calf.

‘ We’re nearly there, Babu, ’ she breathed into the mop of tousled hair. ‘ It was just an accident. That’s all. Remember, we’ve got to stay as quiet as a mouse, OK? ’

At the entrance to the medical quarter she stopped, craning her neck to see beyond the open door. It looked empty. Then, just as she was about to enter, she caught sight of one of Rega’s aides in the far end of the room, half hidden by the lines of shelving. He held a vial of clear liquid up to the light, his face so close as to almost be touching the glass. As Shara quickly swivelled away and back into the shadow of the corridor, his eyes instinctively flicked towards the door to where she had been.

Shara hurried back, passed the lines of doors studded into either side of the corridor. Behind her, there was the soft chink of glass being set down, then footsteps. With a quick glance over her shoulder, she drew back the bolt of the door nearest to her and quickly eased herself inside, Babu still hugged to her chest. The room was small with two beds neatly arranged a few feet apart. One of them was covered in a mound of sheets. The top half of Bill’s body poked out from the folds.

Shara stayed by the door for several seconds, eyes fixed on Bill. His head was turned away from them and one arm hung limply over the edge of the bed. The sheets moved up and down in a constant rhythm. He was either asleep, or more likely, unconscious.

Tipping Babu onto the empty bed, she motioned for him to be silent, then started hunting through the wooden cupboard to the right of the door. Medical supplies were carefully stacked within.

A moment later, she turned back with a roll of gauze tucked under her arm, a needle and thread and a small, half-full bottle of clear liquid. Sloshing the liquid onto the gauze, she raised it towards the open cut on Babu’s knee.

‘ This is going to sting, ’ she whispered. ‘ But don’t make a sound. ’

Reaching up to his neck, she slipped the string of jade prayer beads over his head and pressed them into his hand.

‘ Squeeze on these when it hurts. ’

Babu inhaled deeply, his fist tightening round the beads as she carefully stroked the gauze over his knee, cleaning away the blood.

‘ Brave boy, ’ Shara breathed. ‘ I’m going to have to put a couple of stitches in. It will hurt but not for long. Do you think you can keep silent for a while longer? ’

Babu nodded, but his brown eyes widened as he saw Shara hold the needle up to the light and thread the cotton through. He gripped the beads in his hands tighter.

With an encouraging squeeze on his shoulder, Shara bent forward, her hair spilling across her face. As the tip of the needle pierced the skin, Babu’s whole leg stiffened and he let out a yell, before quickly clapping his hand across his mouth. Shara shot a nervous glance at the door, before continuing to sew, her mouth pursed in concentration.

The thread was just being tugged through a second time, when there was a rustling from the opposite bed. She turned to see Bill staring straight at her, his face pale with dark lines of bruising running over the bridge of his nose.

‘Shara?’ he said, his voice husky. ‘What are you doing here?’

‘This little boy hurt his leg,’ she said, biting through the last bit of thread. ‘He fell down some stairs and cut himself. It’s nothing. Why don’t you just go back to sleep?’

Bill pulled himself up onto the pillows, grimacing as his legs dragged over the sheets. Thick belts of gauze had been wound around his calves and the lower part of his thighs.

‘Sleep?’ he asked, his expression hardening. ‘What the hell do you mean “sleep”? Why hasn’t anyone come and seen me? There’s just been these two monks, and neither of them speak a word of English. What’s going on?’

Shara sighed and, gently patting Babu’s shoulder, stood up. Her eyes traced over Bill’s face, at the line of swollen black where he had fallen on to the stone step. His right eye was almost entirely closed, blotched yellow and mauve in ugly bruising, whilst across his thickset jaw, a few days’ worth of stubble had developed into a full beard.

‘I’m sorry, Bill. I know you’ve been left in the dark. But I’ve got to get Babu back to the Abbot’s quarters. He really shouldn’t be here at all. I’ll come back and explain everything . . .’

‘No, Shara,’ Bill said, his voice rising to almost a shout. Shara raised her hands, palms upwards, pleading for him to calm down. The frown on Bill’s face deepened and, as he leant forward to speak, a wave of pain shot up from his injured legs. His jaw clenched and he shut his eyes, fighting back the pain. Eventually he opened his eyes again.

‘We saved your life out there in the storm. The least you could do is give me an explanation.’

Shara remained still for a moment, lost in thought. Then she nodded slowly. ‘OK. You’re right. But I can only tell you a few things – as much as I’m allowed.’

‘You were planning on ditching us all along, weren’t you? Right from the very beginning.’

‘I’m sorry, Bill. Really I am. But you and Luca were my only chance of getting up the cliff-face. With the guide ill in Menkom, I didn’t have any choice.’

She reached across, resting her hand on Bill’s forearm. ‘I am sorry for getting you involved in all this. It was never supposed to happen this way.’

He stared down at her hand for a moment, then moved his arm away.

‘And where the hell is Luca? When can I see him?’

‘Soon, I hope.’