22
Even inside the temple, cocooned in her
sleeping bag and wearing several layers of clothing, Nina still
woke up shivering. Eddie was already awake, heating water on the
stove. ‘Morning, sunshine.’
‘Morning,’ she said blearily. ‘What time is
it?’
‘About twenty to seven. Sun’ll be up soon. We’ll
need to get moving once it is. Got a lot of walking ahead.’
‘Can’t wait.’ She sat up, seeing that the outer
door was ajar, letting in a slit of predawn light. ‘Where are Kit
and Girilal?’
‘Kit’s gone for a piss. Dunno where the old guy is;
he went out about twenty minutes ago. Maybe he’s taking a
dump.’
Nina groaned. ‘I could have lived without you
putting that image in my head, Eddie.’ She unzipped the sleeping
bag. ‘What’s on the menu?’
‘Coffee first, then breakfast. Lots of high-calorie
stuff - we’re going to need it. Cereal, porridge, that kind of
thing.’
‘Mmm. Delicious,’ she said, unenthused.
‘Hey, you wanted to come here. I had another look
at the map now we’ve seen the terrain first-hand, by the way. Think
I’ve worked out a route. Girilal thinks it’ll be safe.’
‘How well does he know the area?’
Eddie smiled conspiratorially. ‘Better than he lets
on. Sneaky old sod. I don’t think this is the first time he’s been
up here in the winter.’
Nina indicated the next hall. ‘He must come to
worship at the Shivalingam. Poor guy. Whatever it is he’s doing
penance for, I don’t think he believes he’ll ever be forgiven for
it.’
‘Well, maybe he’ll get a better crack at things in
the next life.’ He looked up as Kit re-entered the temple.
‘Morning, Kit,’ Nina said. ‘Is Girilal
outside?’
He briskly rubbed his cold fingers. ‘Yes. He said
he wanted to watch the sun rise.’
‘He must be freezing!’
‘He must be mad,’ Eddie amended. ‘Kind of
ironic, since that’s what he was already pretending to be.’
Nina shook her head. ‘He’s just looking for
forgiveness, and I don’t see how he’s going to find it, because he
can’t forgive himself. I feel really sorry for him.’
‘No need for that, Dr Wilde,’ said Girilal
cheerfully, skipping over the sandbags into the temple. Nina
blushed at having been overheard. ‘But I feel sorry for you. You
will not find the Vault of Shiva, because it is not there. Please,
make this old man happy and go back to Gaurikund. Do not risk your
lives for a legend.’
‘That’s sort of what we do,’ Eddie said with a wry
smile.
‘And you say I am mad!’
Nina smiled. ‘Thank you for caring, Girilal, but
I’m afraid we’re long past that point.’
‘Well, I can at least wish you well and see you on
your way.’
‘After breakfast,’ she said. ‘Care to join
us?’
He laughed. ‘Of course! I am mad, not
stupid!’
By the time they left the temple the sun was up,
though the sky was mottled with cloud. Girilal shook their hands.
‘Please, come back down the mountain with me,’ he said hopefully.
‘It will snow later, I can tell.’
‘We’ll be fine,’ Nina assured him, her breath
steaming in the cold air. ‘Thank you for all your help.’
He bowed his head in modesty. ‘I am only doing what
should be done. But I have asked Lord Shiva to watch over you, and
I hope he will be generous.’
‘I hope so too,’ said Kit, peering up
apprehensively at the ridge.
‘Then have a safe - and uneventful, ha! - journey.
Perhaps we shall meet again if you return.’
‘When we return, you mean,’ Eddie
said.
‘When you return, of course! Dr Wilde, Mr
Chase, Mr Jindal . . . be safe.’
‘You too,’ said Nina. ‘Will you be okay getting
back to Gaurikund?’
Girilal grinned. ‘I shall sing, and I shall dance,
and I will be back there as quickly as if I had flown like a bird!’
He did a little jig in the snow.
Eddie held up a hand. ‘Listen, mate - we know
you’re not really mad. So you don’t need to keep up the act.’
Girilal pursed his lips. ‘I didn’t even realise
what I was doing. Perhaps I have been doing it for so long, it has
become natural.’
‘Perhaps you’ve been doing it too long,’
said Nina pointedly.
‘Perhaps. In that case, I shall walk in a very
normal way back to Gaurikund. Goodbye. And good luck.’
‘Thank you,’ she said. ‘And I hope you find what
you’re looking for.’
‘So do I,’ the old man said, waving as he set off
back down the long path.
Eddie turned to gaze up at their own destination.
‘Okay, that gap in the ridge is about three miles from here, and
over a mile higher up. We’ve got a long bloody climb. Let’s get
started.’
Nina detected a new tone in his voice. ‘That was
very military, Eddie. Were you like that in the SAS?’
‘If I was doing things like in the SAS, we wouldn’t
still be standing here - we would have been running up the
mountain with full gear and weapons before the sun was even
up.’
‘Speaking of weapons,’ said Nina, regarding him
suspiciously,
‘did you bring . . .’
‘Course I did.’ He unzipped his coat to reveal the
Wildey tucked in its holster.
She put a hand to her head. ‘Oh, God.
Why?’
‘Hey, you never know - we might run into a
yeti.’
‘Yeah, that’s just the headline I want: “Legendary
Himalayan creature discovered - and has its head blown off by
demented Englishman”!’
‘Better than “World’s most famous non-fictional
archaeologist eaten by snow monster”, innit?’ He started uphill.
‘Well, come on. The Vault of Shiva’s not going to find itself. And,
oi! What do you mean, “demented”?’
Nina and Kit followed him, sharing a smile.
The ascent began relatively easily, but before
long parts of the slope became steep enough for them to need to use
telescopic aluminium climbing poles and even their hands to
scrabble up it. The grass hidden beneath the snow gave way to
nothing but earth and rock.
They kept climbing, Eddie scouting out the best
route. Even with his experience, they had to double back a few
times when the way ahead became too steep to ascend without
climbing gear, something he wanted to avoid for as long as
possible. But there was a route to the foot of the ridge,
however convoluted and draining.
Rest breaks became more frequent the higher they
got. ‘God, this is killing me,’ Nina gasped as she flopped down on
a boulder. She pulled off one glove and rubbed her temple.
Eddie was with her in a moment. ‘Got a
headache?’
‘A bit. It’s not serious,’ she assured him. ‘I just
need to get my breath back.’
‘You took some altitude sickness medicine this
morning, right?’
‘Yeah, I did. Really, I’m okay. What about you,
Kit?’
The policeman was taking deep, slow breaths. ‘I’m
fine. I think. This is the most exhausting case I have ever been
on.’
‘Art theft doesn’t usually take you up the
Himalayas, I suppose,’ said Eddie, surveying the area. The
landscape below was hidden by mist, but he could see clouds visibly
rising, strong winds pushing them up the mountainside. He looked
higher. The patches of cloud had grown thicker and darker, and the
air was noticeably more hazy than when they had left Kedarnath.
‘Girilal was right. I think we’re going to get snowed on.’
Nina regarded the clouds unhappily. ‘Nice Christmas
cardy snow, or horrific flesh-stripping blizzardy snow?’
‘Three guesses. How’s your head?’
‘Better. A bit.’
‘Give it another minute, then.’ He patted her
shoulder.
As she waited for her headache to subside, Nina’s
attention went to the ground around them. Even under the snow, it
had a distinctly stepped appearance, as if long terraces had been
dug into the slope. ‘Have you noticed this? It almost looks like it
was once cultivated.’
‘Up here?’ Eddie said sceptically. ‘There isn’t
even grass this high up.’
‘There have been warmer periods in the past - there
used to be vegetation in the Antarctic, remember. Maybe the priests
at Kedarnath in Talonor’s time grew things up here. Or maybe there
were people who lived closer to the Vault of Shiva - they’d need to
get their food from somewhere.’
He shook his head. ‘Could just be a fluke of layers
of rock or something.’
‘Yeah, I know. And if it were used for cultivation,
it would have been a long time ago - there’s a lot of erosion. It’s
still an interesting possibility, though.’
‘Depends on your idea of interesting.’
‘Quiet, you.’
Once Nina’s headache faded, they set off again. The
ridge loomed over them, a colossal wall of stone. From this
distance, the ‘notch’ was revealed as a deep pass in its own right.
Eddie checked it with binoculars. ‘There’s a way up to it. Pretty
steep, and there’ll be a lot of zigzagging, but I think we can do
it without having to rope up.’
‘Can we reach it before it starts snowing?’ Kit
asked.
He looked at the sky. The clouds had thickened
still further. ‘Probably not. It might not be too bad, though. Not
much wind at the moment.’
‘Let’s hope it stays that way,’ said Nina.
They picked their way up the steepening route to
the pass. About half a mile short, they stopped to eat. It was now
past midday; only five hours before sunset. Rested and nourished,
the trio pressed on until they reached the bottom of the
path.
The sun was lost behind cloud, the temperature
falling. Nina realised the clouds themselves were closing in.
Kedarnath’s peaks were already obscured, and the upper parts of the
ridge disappeared into the leaden grey. As she watched, a lone
snowflake drifted past. It seemed to be a fluke . . . then another
appeared. And another.
‘Shit,’ muttered Eddie as the fall began in
earnest. He tried to pick out the switchback path above him. ‘We’ve
got about another three hundred feet to climb, and there’s nowhere
to put up a shelter if it gets bad. We’ll either have to go back
down and wait it out, or get to the top no matter what the weather
does.’
‘Can we make it all the way up?’ asked Nina.
‘Dunno.’ He studied the clouds. ‘If the wind
doesn’t pick up we should be able to, but . . .’ A shrug. ‘Depends
how keen you are to see what’s up there.’
‘There is kind of a time factor,’ Nina reminded
him. ‘If the Khoils figure out the Kedarnath connection, they’ll be
on their way here too - and probably by helicopter.’
‘Bad weather’ll affect a chopper just as much as
us. If we can’t get up there, neither can they.’
‘But as soon as it clears, they’ll be able to fly
straight there.’ She looked at the winding path above. ‘If you
think it’s too great a risk, then . . . we’ll wait it out until the
weather improves,’ she said reluctantly. ‘But if you think we
can make it, we should try. For all we know, the Vault of
Shiva might be right on the other side of that ridge. It might be
in that ridge.’
‘Great, dump all the life-and-death decisions on
your husband . . .’ Eddie stared up at the pass once more. ‘Okay,
we’ll try it. You all right with that, Kit?’
‘If you think we can make it, I will trust you.’ He
smiled. ‘You seem to know what you’re doing.’
‘Christ, I wish that was true all the time! Okay,
let’s go. Be careful.’
Eddie took the lead, probing the rock beneath the
snow with his aluminium pole. Fat snowflakes whirled around them,
eddies of wind gusting them up the ridge into the climbers’
faces.
The path narrowed as they moved higher, the steep
slope transitioning to actual cliff. Mid-afternoon, but beneath the
overhanging clouds it felt more like evening. The landscape below
disappeared into a dismal sea of grey as more snow fell. The pass
above was only vaguely visible through a disorienting swirl of
snowflakes.
They continued the ascent. Before long the climbing
poles became useless, everyone needing both hands to keep a firm
grip on the rock. At the end of another leg of the zigzag path,
Eddie stopped and squinted up through the falling snow. ‘Not far to
go, but if it gets any narrower we might have to get out some
spikes and rope up. It’ll slow us down, but it’ll be safer.’ He
shifted his gaze to the main mass of Kedarnath - and his expression
changed. ‘Wait, fuck that! We need to get to the top, right
now!’
Nina looked. ‘Why? What’s happening?’ A dark cloud
bank had moved across the peak, angling upwards from the mountain’s
side like a Nazi salute.
‘A storm’s coming! That cloud - it’s called a flag
cloud, and when it’s tilted up like that it means the wind’s
blowing really fast.’
‘How fast is really fast?’ Kit asked
nervously.
‘Seventy, eighty miles an hour - it’s a fucking
blizzard, and it’s coming right at us! Move it!’ He started
up the path.
‘I’m movin’, I’m movin’!’ cried Nina, side-stepping
along the narrow ledge as fast as she dared. Kit was right behind
her. The wind picked up, its shrill whistle chilling in more ways
than one.
The approaching storm seemed as tangible as the
rockface, a black wall closing in to crush them. Eddie reached the
last leg of the path, the entrance to the pass at its top. He
stretched his legs wide to clear a broad gap in the ledge - and
felt stones shift underfoot, adrenalin kicking at his heart as he
fought to keep his balance. He rasped his boot against the rock
until it found solidity, then hopped over, warning the others to be
careful.
Nina reached the final section, seeing the pass -
and also the storm lunging down like an attacking bear. Panting,
the freezing air searing her lungs, she moved to the gap. The wind
was roaring now, tearing at her clothes. Kit clung to the rock wall
a few steps behind her.
Eddie waited on the far side, hand out. She steeled
herself, jumped - and cleared it. ‘Kit, come on!’ she called.
He leapt—
The storm hit.
It was almost a physical blow, the wind slamming
against them. Visibility was reduced to inches in a second. Eddie
clutched Nina’s hand; she reached back with her other to grab Kit’s
sleeve, pulling as hard as she could as he clawed for a handhold.
The weight of his backpack made him wobble, one foot slipping -
then he found support. She tried to yell for him to follow, but
couldn’t even hear her own voice over the fury of the storm. All
she could do was tug the Indian in the same direction Eddie was
pulling her, and hope none of them fell and dragged the others over
the edge . . .
Perversely, the last few feet were the hardest, the
steep, snow-slicked slope offering no handholds. Eddie kicked his
toes hard into the frozen scree, dragging Nina after him. His
outstretched hand, already numbing, touched something solid.
The wall of the pass. They had made it—
And were no better off. The split in the ridge was
barely eight feet wide at its foot - and it acted as a channel for
the storm. The vicious wind chill made the temperature plummet.
Within moments, the group’s backs were coated in snow and ice,
their clothing flapping like flags in a hurricane.
‘Keep moving!’ Eddie gasped. If they stayed in the
natural wind tunnel, they would freeze to death in minutes - there
was no chance of erecting a tent in time, even if it could
withstand the storm. One arm over his face, he reached back with
the other to pull Nina along. Kit held on to her backpack,
stumbling in their wake.
Now Eddie understood why this part of the mountain
had such a fearsome reputation. The pass was an obvious short cut -
but if the weather changed suddenly, it could become a
deathtrap.
How long was the pass? He lowered his arm, the cold
biting at his eyes. Nothing visible except wind-driven snow
streaming past.
He squeezed Nina’s hand, hoping to feel her do the
same in return, but got no response. Another look ahead as he
staggered on. Still nothing visible but the disorienting hyperspace
tunnel of rushing snowflakes. He could feel ice forming on his
eyelashes, freezing them together.
He used his elbow to find the wall. There might be
some nook, a fallen boulder, a tiny cave that could provide just
enough shelter for them all to huddle inside until the storm
passed. But he felt nothing except solid rock . . .
The wind suddenly changed, blowing at him not from
behind, but from the side. A tornado of snowflakes whipped round
him. Forcing his ice-crusted eyes open, he looked round. The rock
walls seemed no different from the rest of the pass.
Why had the wind shifted? Something was diverting
it - maybe even blocking it. Shelter. But he still couldn’t see
anything—
He looked up - and found it.
About seven feet above in the eastern cliff was a
fissure, a horizontal slash in the rock. Roughly five feet high,
and deep enough that nothing but shadow was visible within. If they
could all squeeze inside . . .
He turned, taking the icy blast directly into his
face as he shouted to Nina and Kit. ‘Cave . . . up there! Nina,
climb up!’
She pushed her hood against his. Even that close,
he could barely hear her over the wind. ‘Can’t feel . . .
hands.’
‘It’s our only chance! Come on!’ He shoved her to
the wall. ‘Kit, help her up!’
The two men took hold of Nina and lifted her.
‘Reach up!’ Eddie shouted. ‘Get into the hole!’ She stiffly raised
her hands, groping numbly for the gap. Finding it. Eddie and Kit
pushed her higher, and she all but fell inside. Realising that the
wind had dropped, she crawled deeper into the fissure.
‘You next!’ Eddie told Kit. The Indian said
something, but it was lost in the wind. Eddie bent to give him a
leg up, taking hold of Kit’s boot with his freezing fingers. Legs
flailing, Kit wormed into the tight opening.
Eddie jumped up after him, but the edge of the
little cave was slick with ice. His hands, useless lumps of meat,
couldn’t get a grip. The storm was sapping his strength by the
second - if he didn’t get into shelter very soon, he never would .
. .
Kit reappeared in the cave mouth. He knelt and held
out his hands. Eddie reached up. Kit grabbed his wrists and pulled.
With the last of his strength, Eddie scrambled up the wall, boots
rasping on the rock.
He slumped into the fissure, almost knocking Kit
over as he landed on him. The cave was deeper than he had thought;
they moved into the darkness, flurries of snow still clawing at
them in a last-ditch attempt to stop their escape before the
ferocious wind finally dropped.
‘Thanks,’ Eddie gasped, getting a weak grunt of
affirmation in return. He saw Nina in the shadows ahead and dragged
himself to her. ‘Help me . . . with the heater.’
She pulled off his backpack and opened it. A minute
later, the paraffin heater was lit. They piled their packs up
behind them to block the wind. Eddie massaged Nina’s hands through
her gloves as the trio hunched tightly round the heater. ‘Don’t try
to warm up too fast,’ he warned. ‘Get the circulation back
first.’
‘Will we have frostbite?’ she asked, worried.
‘I don’t think we’ll have to saw off any fingers,
but no point taking chances. Can you feel anything?’
‘Yeah. Pins and needles.’
‘Believe it or not, that’s good. How about you,
Kit?’
Kit flexed his fingers. ‘Feeling better. And I
think all my toes are still attached . . .’
‘Great. Let’s see where we are, then.’ He fumbled
in his pack for a torch.
Nina blinked in annoyance as she was momentarily
dazzled, then followed the beam as it slid over the rocks around
them, moving deeper and deeper. ‘How far back does it go?’ The
passage twisted out of sight about thirty feet away.
‘Dunno. Think we’ve found a good place to sit out
the storm, though.’
She looked at the cave floor, which was coated with
grit and small stones. ‘Looks alluvial. It must carry meltwater
during the spring thaw.’
‘I didn’t know you were a geologist,’ said
Kit.
‘It’s useful stuff for archaeologists - helps us
figure out how deep things might be buried.’ She took the
flashlight from Eddie and scanned the walls. ‘Where does the water
come from, though? It must open out somewhere.’
She made as if to crawl down the passage to
investigate, but Eddie pulled her back. ‘Oi! Get properly warmed up
first. Might as well have something to eat while we’re at
it.’
‘Well, if we must . . .’ They smiled at each other,
then Eddie poked through the packs for supplies.
After half an hour, they were more or less
recovered and ready to move. Nina had already taken the lead. ‘It
carries on round this corner,’ she reported, shining the light
ahead.
‘How far?’ Kit asked.
‘I don’t know - I still can’t see the end. But it
gets wider.’ She continued on.
‘Jesus, slow down,’ Eddie complained. ‘It’s not
like we’ve found the Vault of Shiva . . .’ He tailed off.
‘Do you think . . .’ said Kit, eyes widening.
‘With her luck, I wouldn’t be bloody surprised.
Come on!’ He shuffled down the confined passage after his wife, Kit
behind him.
They caught up with Nina. The tunnel was indeed
getting wider - and higher. ‘I can see daylight,’ she said. A faint
grey cast over the rock walls was discernible ahead.
Eddie tugged down his hood. ‘There’s no wind.’ That
wasn’t entirely true - he could feel a breeze on his cold-reddened
cheeks - but it was nothing compared to the gale blowing at the
other end of the tunnel. There was another bend to traverse, but
the gloomy daylight was now clearly visible beyond it. ‘It opens
out,’ Nina said, Eddie and Kit flanking her as they rounded the
corner.
And stopped, frozen in surprise.
‘Well, bloody hell,’ said Eddie as he took in the
incredible sight. ‘I think we found it.’