Amaanat fully removed the velvet. ‘This is our oldest relic – older even than the Buddha himself. It was left many thousands of years ago by an explorer and general.’
‘Talonor,’ said Nina.
‘Yes.’
‘May I take a closer look?’
‘Please do.’
Nina took out her phone, drawing a suspicious look from Rudra, and switched on its flashlight to get a clearer view. Like the Secret Codex, the book’s pages were sheets of metal, Atlantean text inscribed upon them.
‘Can you read it?’ asked Eddie.
‘Some of it,’ she said. ‘It’s . . . a marker, I suppose, Talonor’s equivalent of leaving a plaque on the moon. It says that he and— Midas!’ she gasped on picking out a name. ‘This says Midas! He really did travel with Talonor.’ She read on. Some parts of the text were beyond even her ability to translate, while others were mere statistics: the number of men on the expedition, distances travelled, supplies consumed and other minutiae. That was not what interested her, though, and she reached to turn the page before hesitating. ‘Can I touch it?’
‘It is metal. You will not hurt it,’ Amaanat replied.
All the same, she did so gingerly, trying to leave as few marks from her fingertips as possible. The next page turned out to be more of the same, a dry account of how Talonor’s expedition had reached this place. But even here she picked out nuggets of interest. The Atlantean had definitely been searching for something specific; there were references to his dealing with local tribes, questioning them for knowledge of . . . ‘A furnace?’ she muttered.
Eddie glanced back into the hot room. ‘What about it?’
‘No, not here. Talonor was looking for what he calls a furnace, but it was obviously something very special.’ She became aware that neither of the two monks had responded to her words; while Amaanat’s expression was studiously neutral, there was a hint of what she thought might be worry behind Rudra’s attempt to match it. ‘You know what it is, don’t you?’ she asked the abbot. ‘You know why Talonor came here – and what he found.’
‘All the answers you require are to be found here,’ Amaanat told her, indicating the metal book.
‘All the ones I need, maybe, but what about the ones I want?’ The old man’s face remained an impenetrable blank. Annoyed, Nina read on. The text became less dry, more intriguing, as it returned to the subject of exploration, but still it did not give her any more insight, until—
‘The cave!’ she exclaimed. ‘It’s here! Talonor found a cave on the mountain, and it had something to do with this furnace he was looking for. He named it the Midas Cave in honour of Midas’s . . . sacrifice, this says. His sacrifice in service of the empire. Something very important to him was lost in finding the cave.’ She continued to scan the ancient text. ‘It doesn’t say what, though. They returned to Atlantis – it even says which route they planned to take! – intending to come back with “the Crucible”.’
‘Your mum talked about that,’ he reminded her.
She nodded. ‘And whatever it is, it was incredibly important to them – it was the entire reason Talonor was sent out to search the world in the first place. It seems their own furnace was dying, so they needed a replacement.’
‘Well, if you’ve got a crucible, a furnace is a pretty good place to put it.’
‘But what were they putting in it?’ She faced Amaanat. ‘You know. I can tell.’
It took all Rudra’s self-restraint not to respond with anger at the accusation, but the old man merely bowed his head. ‘You may believe what you wish. But there is nothing more for you to see here.’
‘And what about the Midas Cave itself? You said you’d show it to me.’
‘I said no such thing. All I said was that your questions would be answered. Now they are. You have finished the task your mother set herself, and learned that Talonor of Atlantis did indeed once travel to this place.’ A small smile. ‘Your quest is over.’
His calm denial infuriated Nina. ‘My mother? You’re going to bring up my mother? Okay, let me do the same: she died because of you!’
‘You dare!’ barked Rudra, stepping towards her. Eddie moved to intercede, but Amaanat had already held up a hand. Scowling, the young monk retreated slightly.
The abbot fixed Nina with a level gaze. ‘We cannot be held responsible for the actions of others. Your mother’s loss was tragic, but we had no part in it.’
‘Didn’t you?’ She retrieved an item from a pocket: the letter Laura had received from the monastery, inside a protective plastic envelope. ‘She wrote to you asking about the Midas Cave – not directly, but you knew what she was after. You knew. And you lied to her!’ She held it up in front of Amaanat’s face, pointing out his signature. ‘You, personally, lied to her. You didn’t tell her anything about the cave, or Tobias Garde’s visit, or that Talonor had ever been here.’
The monk’s eyes flicked over the typewritten text. He was again expressionless, but now to cover his surprise at being presented with his own words over four decades on. ‘She did not ask about them,’ he said after a pause, ‘so I could not have replied about them.’
‘Semantic bullshit!’ Even Eddie was startled by her explosion. ‘Everything in this letter was deliberately intended to make her think Detsen monastery was the wrong place. And because of that, she died. If you had told her the truth, and she’d seen this,’ she gestured at Talonor’s record, ‘it would have told her and my father how to find Atlantis. Talonor’s route back would have led them right to it – and they would have found it forty years ago! But instead they spent the rest of their lives searching, until they got too close and were murdered for it. That happened because of you, Amaanat. You may not have pulled the trigger personally, but you put them in front of a firing squad!’
Rudra’s voice was barely above a growl. ‘You will leave. Now.’ He clenched both fists.
Eddie squared up to him. ‘Guess we’ll see how far your whole non-violence thing goes, won’t we?’ Jayesh, who had remained near the door, moved to join him.
‘There will be no violence,’ said Amaanat firmly. He stared at Rudra. ‘There will not.’ The younger man shrank back, ashamed.
‘I don’t want violence,’ Nina insisted. ‘I just want answers. Where is the Midas Cave, and what’s inside it? What did my ancestor see in there?’
Amaanat closed his eyes, drawing in a slow breath before answering. ‘The monks of Detsen monastery have kept the Midas Cave a secret because to reveal it will bring only violence. What it holds will spark the greed of every unenlightened person in the world.’
‘So pretty much everyone,’ said Eddie.
‘This is why we cannot show it to you,’ the abbot went on. ‘It is too dangerous. You cannot be trusted.’
‘I can’t be trusted?’ Nina snapped. ‘You do know what I’ve done for the past ten years, right?’
‘Of course. You discovered archaeological sites – and showed them to the world.’
‘That was only half my job. The other half was keeping them secret. The IHA’s purpose isn’t just to find lost wonders; it’s also to protect them. Sometimes to keep them out of the hands of greedy, unenlightened people, but other times because what we found was too dangerous to be revealed. I’m not going to tell you what they are, for obvious reasons, but I’ve made discoveries that would make the Midas Cave look as big a threat as a wet bath sponge.’
‘You do not know anything,’ snarled Rudra.
‘No? How about you let me decide that?’ She took a breath of her own, trying to calm herself. ‘Look, I may not work for the IHA any more, but I still share the same values. I want to find the hidden treasures of the past, and show them to the world . . . but only if it’s safe to do so. There are some secrets that have to be kept. I know that for a fact, because I’m keeping them.’
 
; Conflict was clear on the old man’s features. ‘Will you give your word of honour that you will keep this secret?’
‘I will,’ she promised.
‘And your husband?’
The Englishman nodded. ‘If Nina says she’s going to keep quiet about it, then so will I.’ Jayesh tipped his head in agreement.
A long silence followed, the elderly monk gazing intently at the two Westerners as if assessing their souls, then finally he placed his palms together and bowed to them. ‘I believe that I may trust you,’ he said.
‘So you’ll show us the cave?’ Nina asked.
‘I will. But you should be warned that it is not only the cave that is dangerous. The path to it has claimed many lives. You must be prepared, and careful.’
‘We will,’ said Eddie. ‘We’ve both been up mountains before.’
Amaanat appeared almost amused. ‘Not like this, Mr Chase. Dragon Mountain will certainly try to catch you off guard. Are you ready to face it?’
‘We are,’ said Nina firmly. She reached back and gathered her hair into a ponytail.
‘Then,’ he said, ‘let us begin.’
10
The visitors prepared for the journey. Amaanat assured them they would not need the climbing gear Jayesh had brought, but Nina and Eddie still made sure they had survival and emergency equipment – and some extra for the monks, just in case.
They assembled in the courtyard with Amaanat, Rudra and five other monks. The Nepalis had donned outerwear that Nina considered worryingly light for the conditions. The new faces all bore cargo: one had a small haversack and two coils of rope slung from his shoulders, while the others wore larger backpacks. What was in them she couldn’t tell, but it was clearly heavy.
Amaanat issued instructions, then spoke to Eddie and Nina. ‘We are ready. Please follow – and once we are outside the monastery, be very careful.’
He set off, but not towards the main gates. Instead he led the group into the string of buildings, passing through the debate house and the hall of prayer wheels before continuing on past the stairs into other structures. Monks bowed as they passed. Finally they entered the base of the tall tower. A large golden statue of the laughing Buddha sat in the centre of the floor, one hand raised as if waving them off on their journey.
A staircase of well-worn dark wood spiralled upwards inside the framework of thick beams supporting the stone walls. Amaanat bowed to the statue and uttered a brief prayer, then led the ascent, pointing out features as they climbed. ‘Many parts of this tower were brought here from the original monastery. These stairs are almost four hundred years old.’
‘No wonder they creak,’ said Eddie.
‘It is the strongest part of the monastery. It was first built as a fort, for protection against bandits.’
‘I assume the reason the monks demolished the original monastery and moved here was to make it harder for Tobias Garde to find his way back to the Midas Cave?’ Nina asked.
‘Yes,’ replied the abbot. ‘They showed your ancestor the cave in gratitude for his help. But later they realised the danger of outsiders taking control of it.’
‘How did he help them?’
Amaanat did not reply, entering a room at the top of the tower. A door was set into the rear wall. ‘This is the only way to reach the cave,’ he announced as Rudra drew back a bolt and opened it.
A freezing wind rushed in. Even in her well-insulated clothing, Nina felt it slicing at her like tiny razor blades. ‘Wow, that’s cold.’
‘It will get colder,’ Rudra warned. Beyond was the near-vertical wall of the cliff behind the monastery. A sturdy plank was lashed to metal supports driven into the rock.
‘How long’ll the climb take?’ Eddie asked.
‘It depends on the weather . . . and if the path is still there.’
Nina and Eddie looked at each other. ‘Yeah, that’s totally reassuring,’ she said.
Amaanat smiled. ‘There are supplies to repair it along the way – ropes, wood.’ He stepped on to the plank. ‘This way.’
Rudra went next, followed by Eddie, Nina and Jayesh. The narrow gap between tower and cliff acted as a natural wind tunnel, intensifying the icy blast. More snow-caked planks were strung along the cliff to form a walkway – with two-foot gaps between them. Eddie let out a disbelieving huff, his breath forming a steaming cloud. ‘You don’t need to be a mountaineer to get up there. You need to be Super Mario!’
Amaanat sidestepped along the planks until he emerged from behind the tower, giving him enough room to face forwards. The others did the same. The force of the gale reduced once they were clear of the structure, but the biting temperature did not improve.
The abbot surveyed the vertiginous route ahead, then advanced, fingertips brushing the rock face to his left for support. Age had not affected his agility or balance, and he negotiated the tricky path with easy assurance. His guests found it more difficult, their inflexible boots actually a disadvantage when it came to finding grip.
The walkway slanted upwards, reaching a narrow ledge. The group continued along the curving wall overlooking the natural bowl until they reached a sharp fold in the mountainside. A gap had been chiselled out of it, giving just enough room to duck beneath the overhanging rock to reach another path beyond.
Nina looked back at the monastery as the procession slowed to clamber through. The multicoloured prayer flags sweeping down from the tower fluttered in the wind, leading her eye to the precipice at the foot of the slope. More bleak mountains rose beyond it. Other than the tethered yaks, there was no sign of life, not even a distant tree. Although coldly beautiful, it was a desolate, dead landscape.
Yet it hid something extraordinary that her ancestor had seen over a century and a half ago – and that thousands of years earlier an explorer had come all the way from the mouth of the Mediterranean to find. Whatever was in the Midas Cave, they had considered it worth enduring the emptiness.
She followed Eddie through the gap, Jayesh standing ready to assist from behind. The drop to the boulder-strewn ground was a good sixty feet. If the monks wanted to silence the visitors, an ‘accident’ would be easy enough to stage . . .
But Amaanat and his people showed no signs of hostility; not even Rudra, whose present bad temperament was aimed at the elements. Reassured, she kept moving.
Before long, the new ledge levelled out and widened slightly. Bundles of planks and skeins of rope rested in a small hollow in the cliff. ‘The path ends not far ahead,’ Amaanat announced, stopping and moving aside so Rudra could pass him. ‘From here there are more platforms. Talonor first built them so his people could reach the cave. We have maintained them, but the journey is not easy.’
Jayesh took advantage of the brief pause to light a cigarette, drawing disapproving looks from some of the monks. ‘We’ll cope.’
‘I hope so. But be warned, parts of the path are very old.’ He turned as Rudra returned and spoke briefly in Nepalese. ‘The path does not need repair. We may go on.’
They resumed the journey, rounding another fold in the cliff. Nina halted when she saw what lay ahead. The path narrowed to nothingness, but the route continued onwards on a ragged line of more planks supported by logs jutting from the cliff face. The mountainside here was vertical, the drop at least two hundred feet and rising as the precarious walkway staggered upwards. Ropes threaded through eyelets hammered into the stone acted as a kind of handrail, though the slack in the lines did not inspire confidence. ‘Are you certain it doesn’t need repair?’ she asked.
‘This way has been used for thousands of years,’ Amaanat pointed out. ‘It is dangerous, yes, but it can be travelled safely if you take great care.’
‘Nah, I was planning to wing it and run along ’em,’ said Eddie sarcastically. He faced his wife. ‘You sure about this?’
‘W
e’ve come this far,’ she replied.
‘Yeah, and that’s never got us into trouble before, has it?’ He let out a vaporous breath. ‘Okay, just remember that we’ve got a little girl waiting for us to come home, right? Be really careful.’
‘I wasn’t planning to do anything else!’ Nina told him. ‘I guess we’re ready.’
Amaanat bowed his head. ‘Then let us go on.’
He retook the lead, stepping over the gap on to the first plank. It made a low warning groan as it took his weight. The sound did not deter him, and with his left hand lightly holding the guide rope he took measured paces along the wood to reach the next platform in line. ‘Do not have more than one person on each step if you can,’ he called back.
Eddie took a much firmer grip on the rope when his turn came to advance. ‘One down, maybe five hundred more to go,’ he said as he waited for Rudra to clear the next plank. ‘Will we be able to climb all the way up and then back down before it gets dark?’
‘If the path is clear, yes,’ said Amaanat.
‘And if it isn’t?’
‘There is a shelter,’ Rudra told him. ‘It is not big, but there is room for all of us.’
‘Sounds cosy,’ said Nina, not keen on the prospect – as much out of impatience to reach the Midas Cave as at the thought of being trapped for the night on a Himalayan mountain.
The little procession moved on. Once over her initial unease, Nina found the process almost straightforward: eight or nine careful footfalls along each length, then step up to the next platform. The blustery wind encouraged her to press close to the rock, but despite appearances, the guide ropes turned out to be firmly attached to the cliff.
Before long, she felt secure enough to divert a small amount of attention to her surroundings. Empty holes cut into the stone and the protruding stubs of worn logs or metal poles above and below the current pathway suggested that sections had been abandoned over time – or simply broken away and dropped into the void. Some were clearly much older than others. Talonor’s original route to his prize, allowing him to get men and materiel to and from the cave? It seemed likely . . . but for what purpose?