Patrick Woodhead - The Cloud Maker (2010)

‘ You will not find him, ’ he said quietly. ‘ He has already gone from here. ’

‘ We shall see, ’ Rega replied. Then, signalling to Drang, ‘ Take the Abbot away. His enlightenment can only be hastened by joining the Perfect Life. Prepare the straps for his body and take his robes of office from him. ’

Drang moved forward, his hands hesitating for the briefest of moments before hauling the Abbot to his feet. The old man’s legs struggled to find the ground as he was pulled across his own chamber.

As the procession swept out of the door, they passed Norbu lying on the floor. He stared up at them, eyes clouded by fear and confusion.

‘ And what of him? ’ Drang asked.

‘ He is of no consequence. Throw the halfwit in with the other novices. ’ Rega swept forward again. ‘ Sound the assembly. I want every monk in this order before me within the hour. ’

He had to win over the rest of the monks before Geltang would be truly his. Then he would find that precious boy.

Chapter 49

Luca raced down the stone steps of the monastery with Babu hugged under his right arm. The boy’s head jostled up and down to the same rhythm as the rucksack slung across his back as Luca took two stairs at a time, running headlong into the night.

Trying to keep up, Shara hurried down behind them with Bill gripping on to her shoulder for support. He grimaced, jaw clenching in pain as the fabric of his trousers chafed against the newly healed scars. But none of them stopped for a second. They had to get away from Geltang and into the safety of the mountains.

Luca reached the end of the stairway and continued at full tilt, his stride opening up as he broke into a full sprint on the gravel pathway. He followed the path down, winding towards the lowest reaches of the valley before he slowed and finally stopped. Sliding Babu down on to his feet, he bent forward, winded from the effort, and stared back at the towering façade of Geltang monastery. Grey in the moonlight, it loomed over them like a colossal tombstone.

There was a clattering of feet as Bill and Shara arrived, breathing hard.

‘Everyone OK?’ Luca asked. Both of them nodded, trying to catch their breath. ‘I think we can rest for a moment. We should be far enough away.’

While Shara and Babu sat down on a nearby boulder, Bill limped towards Luca, rubbing his hands gingerly down the back of his thigh. He could feel a small damp patch just above his knee where the scar had broken and a watery mix of blood and pus had oozed on to his trousers.

‘That wasn’t such a smart idea,’ he said, wincing from the dull throbbing in his legs.

‘Sorry, mate, I thought I saw someone coming towards us across the courtyard. I just ran.’

Bill nodded.

‘I saw them too.’

Bill stared across at Luca from under the brow of his fleece hat. It was pulled low over his forehead, casting deep shadow across his eyes. A thick beard now covered his jawline and his cheeks looked uncharacteristically hollow from the weight he had lost over the last week. Despite claiming to feel stronger, he still looked gaunt and tired.

Luca stared up into the night sky, distracted by a thick swathe of cloud that had drifted across the full moon. Reaching down into his rucksack, he pulled his head-torch from the side pouch. A moment later his face was bathed in a stark neon light which picked up the curls of vapour from his breath.

‘You think it’s safe to use these?’ he whispered.

Bill stared across at him, squinting under the glare.

‘Unless you want to fall down the side of the mountain, I don’t think we have much of a choice. There’s too much cloud tonight.’

Bill released his grip on his thigh, straightening his back.

‘I’m worried,’ he said, staring at Luca.

‘About your legs?’

‘No, not me. Them.’

With a nod of his head, he gestured towards Shara and Babu resting on a rock ten feet away. Shara was holding a leather water bottle, gently pouring the liquid into Babu’s open mouth. The child swallowed, then wiped his face with his sleeve. His small frame seemed to be engulfed by the heavy sheepskin jacket he was wearing, with only his little felt boots protruding underneath.

‘You heard what Shara said,’ Luca whispered, following Bill’s gaze. ‘We just have to get them to this shrine.’

‘Yeah, but why us?’

‘Because no one’s been there for nearly a hundred years and the shrine’s apparently halfway up the mountain. No one knows how bad the route’s going to be.’

Bill turned his back to Shara and Babu, lowering his voice further.

‘Jesus, Luca. Don’t you think things through? I’m not talking about the route. I mean why did the Abbot want us to go and not someone else from the monastery? If the boy’s so important, why hand him to a couple of strangers?’

‘I have thought it through,’ Luca answered defensively. ‘Geltang’s full of monks. Can you imagine Dorje traversing mountain passes in the middle of the bloody night!’

Bill exhaled heavily, sending a wash of vapour through the glow of the head-torch. Behind them Shara was standing up, getting ready to leave again. She pulled tight the hood of Babu’s jacket so that curls of hair stuck out across his cheeks. Bill watched them for a moment, then reached up to scratch his beard.

‘I know you gave Shara your word, but Chinese soldiers? This is dangerous shit, Luca. We shouldn’t even be here.’

Luca didn’t answer but stared down at his hands, lost in thought. His fingers were swollen and calloused from years spent climbing and his thumb worked across the pads of hardened skin on his palms. He’d never come across soldiers before on any of his expeditions. Nor, for that matter, had he ever held a gun. But guns or no, soldiers weren’t mountaineers. All they had to do to remain safe was climb deeper into the Himalayas if they spotted any sign of trouble. They had over a week’s worth of food that Dorje had given them and enough fuel in Bill’s MSR stove for even longer.

He smiled slowly as he remembered something Dorje had told him while they were sorting through the equipment.

‘You know, I’m not exactly one for karma,’ he told Bill, ‘but you’ve got to admit, it’s strange how things work out. All this time looking for the pyramid mountain and here we are, hiking through the middle of the night to get to it.’

‘Yeah.’ Bill looked up, catching the expression on his face. ‘Wait a second. This is about more than getting to the shrine, isn’t it? You’re thinking that after we dump Shara and the kid, we’ll go for the summit.’

Luca raised his hands, his smile widening innocently.

‘The way I see it, if the Abbot wants us to kick our heels at the shrine for a week, then why the hell not go for the summit while we’re there?’

Bill’s expression hardened and he reached out, gripping Luca hard by his wrist.

‘Because I have to get home, that’s why,’ he said. ‘We deliver the boy, then we head back down the mountain. That’s what we agreed. No silly buggers this time, Luca.’

Shara came over to where they stood. She pulled her hair back from her face, tying it round in a knot behind her head, and looked at them both questioningly.

‘Whatever you guys are discussing, it can wait. We need to get moving.’ She turned to Bill. ‘How are the legs holding up?’

‘OK, but I think Babu and I are going to be the ones bringing up the rear.’

Shara smiled. ‘Well, I don’t think he’d be too unhappy with that. I think you’ve got yourself a fan.’

Babu joined them on the pathway, looking up at Bill from under the furry lining of his hood.