by Jon F. Merz
Jack eyed me. “What the hell does that mean?”
But I just walked away. It was probably better that he not know how I was planning to get us out of here until he didn’t have a choice in the matter. I was pushing the boundaries on this mission. I’d effectively gone off without checking with my Control. And the Council certainly hadn’t greenlit this operation. Chances were pretty decent that I was either going to get in serious trouble for doing this or I’d simply have to disappear when this was all over.
If I lived, that is.
We covered the mile easily enough. Jack was in remarkably good shape and I was no slouch. The undulating hills gave us a good workout and when we slowly ascended the last incline, I spotted the trees before I saw the cliff. But then the gust of wind drew up and over the lip, making me shiver as we approached. A few loose bits of shale skittered under our feet as we drew closer to the trees.
“Doesn’t look like there’s anything there,” said Jack.
And indeed, it didn’t. The bent and withered trees all drew into each other as if sheltering something from the storm. I frowned as we moved closer. Beyond the trees, there was only the wide open gulf of the chasm. How could there possibly be a temple hidden in there? It didn’t make sense.
Jack stopped short suddenly. “Did you hear that?”
“What?”
“Sounded like something in the brush behind us.” Jack turned and searched the woods we’d just come through. Spindly pines that showed how high in elevation we were lined the game trail we’d used to cover the distance from the landing zone. But nothing moved that I could see and after another moment, Jack shrugged. “Must have been nothing.”
“Maybe an animal,” I said. “There are a lot of species in Bhutan that have been safe from hunters and prying eyes.”
“I saw a documentary that theorized that the abominable snowman was actually alive and well in Bhutan,” said Jack. “Maybe we’ve stumbled across a family of yeti.”
“Well, that would no doubt make the trip more exciting. But we don’t really have time to see what it is.” I pointed. “Let’s get into those trees and see if there’s a hint of the temple ruins.”
We moved into the copse of trees, being careful of the thorny branches. I wasn’t sure what species of trees these were, but they were flexible and dangerous. As we pushed into them, thorns stuck on my hands and arms and drew small flecks of blood. Jack was having his own hard time dealing with it as well.
“If the temple is in here, then they certainly did a good job guarding it. These trees suck.”
“Agreed,” I said. “But they’re also a pretty hearty species to be able to endure the harsh conditions up here on the cliff. I imagine they get battered constantly by the high winds and storms.”
Jack pointed. “I don’t see anything except for that.”
I looked and saw a small round flat stone on the ground. “That’s too small to be much of anything.”
“We’re out of room, Lawson,” said Jack. “We go any further and we’re going over the edge of the cliff.”
He was right. Six feet further on, the edge dropped away into a sheer chasm that must have gone down about a three hundred feet. I held up my hand. “Let’s check out that stone then. Maybe it is something, after all.”
Jack knelt and ran his fingers over the stone. “It’s smooth, cool to the touch, but that’s not especially strange given how cold it is out here right now.”
He was right again. The weather seemed to be turning colder. “Can you pry it up?”
Jack dug his fingers under the edge and tried pulling it out. He fell back. “What the hell-?”
I tried and frowned. It felt like the stone was buried in the ground. “There must be more to it than we can see.”
“An iceberg?”
“Could be. Let’s try together.”
Jack came around and we pulled on the same side. There was a bit of hesitation and then we felt something move. Ever so slightly. “Keep going, we’ve almost got it,” I said.
We heaved again and then the dirt around the stone started to come loose. Bits of roots came away with the stone, almost as if the trees had grown in and around the rock itself as another barrier to getting under it. Finally, there was a sudden rush and we fell back away from the stone as it came up suddenly. It felt like we’d broken the seal on a vacuum container. I heard a rush of air and then a musty smell surrounded us.
Jack wrinkled his nose. “Whew. That smells like about a thousand years of funk.”
“Well put.” I scrambled over and looked into the hole. It was only about two and half feet wide, barely able to accommodate an adult male, but it seemed to widen out further in. I tried looking for the bottom, but couldn’t make it out in the darkness, even with my good eyesight.
“How deep do you think it is?” Jack asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know. But if this leads somewhere, then we’ll have to find out where. We’ve still got a schedule to keep to and we can’t afford to delay any longer. We need to get the Cloak as fast as possible and then screw on out of here.”
“You going in first?”
I nodded. “I’ll take point, yeah.” I shucked my ruck off and handed it to Jack. “Give it to me once I’m down there.”
“Or we could drop it now and see if we can hear how deep it goes.”
I paused. “Good idea.”
“Just trying to spare your legs, old man.”
“You call me old man again and you won’t live to see your next birthday.”
Jack smirked. “Fair enough.”
Together, we crouched near the opening and slid my ruck over the edge. I braced, expecting it would take a few seconds to hear it impact the bottom. But only about a second after we dropped it, we heard it hit something.
“Not too bad,” said Jack. “I’d guess about ten feet.”
“Unless it’s a ledge and on either side is a bottomless pit leading straight to hell.”
“Better land right, then,” said Jack. “You probably don’t look all that good smooshed to bits.”
“Nice of you to be so concerned.” I turned on to my stomach and let my legs go over the edge of the opening. Jack took my hands in his and slowly lowered me until the only thing left to do was let go.
“Here’s hoping you don’t break any bones,” said Jack with a grin.
“You’ll know soon enough if I do.” I looked up and nodded once.
Jack let go.
And I fell.
3
I dropped for eight feet and then felt my feet impact the ground below. I sank down immediately on my knees, letting my breath fall out of me as my body absorbed the landing. It was dark, but not as bad as it had appeared from up above.
“You okay?”
I glanced up and saw Jack peering down. “Yeah. The drop’s not bad. Maybe ten feet in total.”
“Coming down.”
“Want me to catch you?”
“Hell, no.” I saw Jack’s feet slide over the rim of the opening and then a moment later, he dropped next to me. He landed pretty noiselessly and I was impressed. Then again, he was a lot younger than I was. Youth had its advantages…sometimes.
Jack nudged me. “So, let’s get moving.”
“How’s your vision?”
Jack shrugged. “Not as dark as I thought it’d be. I can see the tunnel ahead of us, fortunately leading away from the cliff face.”
“I’ll take point,” I said.
Jack shook his head. “You took point coming down here. Let me have a chance.”
I started to protest. Jack wasn’t trained for this type of stuff. At least not that I knew of. But he didn’t wait for me to say anything, he just shoved past me and headed down the tunnel. I frowned, but followed. The tunnel sloped down at a gentle angle and loose pebbles seemed to skitter away from us with regularity. I wondered about the footing, but the dirt seemed stable enough. I figured there might have been solid rock somewhere underneath our feet, bu
t I had no way of knowing for sure.
Jack led us down for about a hundred yards and then the tunnel made a sharp left. We paused here and Jack waved me up.
“What is it?”
He pointed and I could the dim outline of a door ahead of us. It looked like it was made out of solid stone and covered in Sanskrit, but the characters were far too old to read properly. I looked at Jack and he just shrugged. Together, we approached the door and tried pushing it open. It didn’t budge even one little bit.
I ran my hands over it. It felt old. And heavy. Jack approached the door and tried chanting something, but nothing happened. He glanced back and grinned. “Well, sometimes it doesn’t work all that well.”
“What doesn’t?”
“Opening old doors.”
“I thought you dealt with spirits.”
“You’d be amazed at how much material we covered in school.”
“I’ll bet.”
Jack stepped away from the door. “Regardless, this thing looks massive. How are we going to get through it?”
“I don’t know.”
Jack eyed me. “That’s it? I don’t know? I expected more from you, dude.”
I smirked. I knew that sentiment well. A lot of folks tended to think that just because I was a Fixer, that it meant I had all the answers. But that’s not what made me special. What made me special - and others involved in covert operations special - was our ability to look at a problem and find a solution. Even if we didn’t get it done at first. They’d drilled that into us at the Fixer Academy. And they’d drilled it into us even more later on during STA-F Selection. They never wanted the guys who acted like know-it-alls. What they wanted was someone comfortable enough in their own skin to readily admit when they didn’t know what they were doing, or didn’t have the answer to a problem. Once they had that individual, they taught us how to look at a problem from all sides, consider anything, and come up with a workable solution.
“We don’t want gazelles,” they’d told us. “We want the men who fall down - time and time again - and still pick themselves up and keep going. We want the ones who will never quit. Never give up. They’ll succeed or they’ll die trying.”
So, yeah, I knew the look on Jack’s face well. I smiled at him. “Shattering another illusion?”
“I just thought you’d be able to figure this out.”
“I will,” I said. “But I don’t have the answer yet. Give me a few minutes.”
“Time is in short supply,” said Jack.
I frowned. “No one knows that more than me, Jack.”
He blanched. “Yeah, sorry. That was uncalled for.”
“Forget it.” I stared at the door trying to shut the image of Talya out of my mind. I couldn’t afford to have her poking into my thoughts. I needed to compartmentalize that and put it away so I could concentrate on the task at hand.
Easier said than done.
The door in front of us appeared to have been hewn out of solid rock. I couldn’t find any seams; the thing was massive and imposing. Worse, my scant knowledge of Sanskrit was coming back to bite me on the ass. I couldn’t decipher any of it.
I shook my head and examined the walls around the door. If there were hinges or some sort of opening mechanism, I couldn’t see it. I started wondering if this was a door after all. Maybe it was simply a giant stone block put there as a barrier. I felt certain if we could get past it, we’d be inside the temple where the Cloak of Despar was supposed to reside.
But how could we get through it?
It made no sense.
Jack squatted down behind me and leaned against the wall, yawning as he did so. I was tired, too. We’d hustled our way out of New York, flying non-stop to reach Bhutan. We’d burned over a day so far on this mission and now we were being stymied by a huge chunk of rock. That was unacceptable in my book.
I ran my hands over my face, stifled a yawn, and stretched my arms overhead, touching the cave ceiling as I did so. My fingers brushed the rough surface and I brought them back down with a sigh. I took another look at the Sanskrit characters and did my best to just look at them without trying to translate.
And then I realized my mistake.
“Not Sanskrit.”
“Huh?” Jack piped up behind me. I heard him get to his feet and come over. “What’d you say?”
I pointed. “I thought it was Sanskrit. It’s not. That’s why I didn’t recognize it at first.”
“What is it then?”
“It’s the Tibetan alphabet. Close, but not quite. Definitely enough to throw me off, considering it’s been ages since I used it last.”
“All right,” said Jack. “So, what does it say then? I mean, now that you’ve figured out the writing system.”
I stared at the door. Slowly, the memories came back. I started reading it off in Dzongkha. “Ghar tira zhada ban tira muk…” I paused. “Give me a second here.” After another moment, I continued. “Ban tira zhanda ghar tira muk. Kay ho?”
“Which means what, exactly?”
“While going towards home, the face is towards forest. While going towards forest, the face is towards home. What is it?”
Jack groaned. “Great. Riddles.”
I pointed below the lines I’d just translated. “There are some choices here.”
“What are they?”
I squinted and brushed a bit of dirt away from the door. It must have been years since this cave would have been used. “Looks like turnip, ox, egg, prayer flag, and axe.”
“Five choices?” jack shook his head. “Do I dare ask what happens if we choose wrong?”
“I’d imagine it’s probably something truly awful. Maybe the floor falls out from under us and we plunge to our death being impaled on wooden spikes or something.”
Jack looked at me. “Did you really need to get that detailed?”
“Probably not, but it’s fun scaring you.”
Jack frowned. “I’m not scared. I’m just being careful.”
“Sometimes, you can’t afford careful. Sometimes, you just have to go for it.”
“Easier said than done,” said Jack with a sigh. “I’m too young to die yet. Not like you.”
“I also happen to enjoy breathing.”
“So what are you going to choose?”
I held up a hand. “Hey, I did the heavy lifting with translation. How about you make a choice?”
Jack was quiet for a moment. “What if I guess wrong?”
I shrugged. “Then we’ll deal with it.”
He shook his head. “I don’t know how you can be so relaxed about us possibly dying here.”
“I’m not relaxed about it, pal. I’ve just been in these situations before. At the end of the day, you make your best guess and hope it’s right. If it’s not, then maybe we’ll get another turn.”
“You think so?”
“I hope so.”
Jack took a breath and nodded. “All right then.” He stepped closer to the door and examined the characters. Finally he glanced up. “Let’s try ox.”
“What made you guess that?”
“It’s the only one that’s alive.”
“Okay, fair enough. Put your hand on this word and press it, I guess.”
Jack leaned forward and placed his hand on the word for ox. He pushed once and the word slid back into the door.
We braced.
But nothing happened.
Jack exhaled in a long rush. “Okay, so maybe that wasn’t it.”
“Guess not.”
Jack smacked his own face. “Nuts. The ox isn’t the only thing living there. The turnip could be considered alive, too.” He looked at me. “I screwed up here, dude.”
“Forget about it. Nothing happened. We just have to do this until we guess correctly. That’s all.”
“You think?”
“Try again,” I said.
“Let’s go with prayer flag this time. Seems respectful, you know?”
I nodded. “All right, go for it
.”
Jack pushed in the word for prayer flag and again, nothing happened. At first. Then we heard something rumble underneath our feet. Bits of dirt and stone from overhead showered down on us. But then everything grew still again.
Jack looked at me. “Was that strike two?”
“Very possibly,” I said. “It seems as though we’d better make sure this last guess is the one. Otherwise, I don’t want to know what happens next.”
“Faces” muttered Jack. “What could it mean about faces?”
“Not faces,” I said. “Face. It’s not plural here.”
“I made another mistake.” Jack sighed. “So what among the choices has an actual face?”
“The ox,” I said.
“Tried that already,” said Jack. “What else?”
“From what’s left? Egg, turnip, and axe.”
Jack sank back down to the ground. I could tell he was feeling some pressure. He wanted to do right, but he was still scared. That was okay. As long as he held it together, he’d be fine. “Any one of those three could be the answer, right?”
“Only one of them is.”
“So let’s take it one by one, then.” Jack held his hand up. “Does an egg have a face?”
“Eventually.”
“But not as an egg,” said Jack. “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”
“What about the turnip?”
“A turnip face?” Jack shook his head again. “Never heard of that, either. Although I suppose it could refer to some sort of geographic idiom or something. Maybe a bit of local talk?”
“I don’t know. If that was the case, then they’d have to be pretty sure that whoever came down here was only from around these parts. That seems a bit risky to me, frankly.”
“Well, what about the axe?”
“Axe face.” I rubbed my chin. “I’ve heard of that before, but…”
Jack jumped up suddenly. “Read the rest.”
“What?”
He pointed at the door. “Read it again, the whole thing.”
“While going towards home, the face is towards forest. While going towards forest, the face is towards home. What is it?”
“It’s axe,” said Jack. And the tone of his voice left no doubt.
“You’re sure?”
