The Amber Trail

by M. J. Kelly

  Rudimentary shacks ran parallel with the now stationary train, each constructed of corrugated iron panels, blue plastic sheeting, and cardboard. A grubby boy emerged from the passageways between the shacks, unzipped his pants and relieved himself further up the track.

  “What the...” Dig said.

  “Slum toilet.” Jules climbed down the ladder beside him. “Come on.” She ran away toward the shacks. Dig wiped his hand against a rail and followed her.

  “Hey!” The voice came from the train. Shiv leaned out of the doorway to the main carriage. “Jules!”

  Jules skipped across the track ballast before disappearing into a dark alleyway between the buildings. Dig covered the distance in long strides and followed her into the passage.

  Shadowy dwellings of corrugated iron lined up on both sides of the corridor, with small children sitting in the doorways. Dig skipped between muddy puddles on the ground; the stink of urine filled the air.

  Jules dodged left into a shadowy passageway, barely shoulder width, that ran away between two high mudbrick walls. As Dig followed her around the corner, he glanced back to see Shiv and the thugs pushing into the corridor. They were catching up.

  They ran through the passage, ducking below a clothesline while their shoes slapped against the muddy ground. A mangy dog appeared from a doorway and snapped at Dig’s heels.

  The passage rose up a set of stairs, then opened out into an enclosed courtyard surrounded by tall, mudbrick buildings with darkened doorways. A boy knelt in the centre of the courtyard, pumping water from a well. Jules stopped, her chest heaving, and turned to Dig with wide eyes. “We’re trapped.”

  Footsteps echoed behind them, and Dig’s stomach clenched. “Come on,” he said, and ran past the boy into the nearest door.

  The room was small and dark, and smelt like smoke and mud. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. A table stood in the centre of the room, supporting a stack of plates. Against the back wall, a ladder led up through the ceiling. Dig ran to it and climbed. Voices shouted from the doorway behind them.

  In the upper level, the ceiling was low and Dig’s knees popped as he scurried across the room. A mattress lay in one corner, and light streamed through a solitary window. He pushed his head through the window frame to see a tangled sea of roofs spread out ahead of him, split by the top of a fragmented mud wall that zigzagged between the buildings like a broken path.

  Jules appeared in the window beside him.

  “The wall,” Dig said. “Outside.” He helped her out through the window opening. The sleeve of her shirt tore on the frame as she passed through.

  Dig climbed out behind her and lowered himself to the top of the wall. It was a couple of hand spans wide, but the bricks were jagged and wobbly. The mortar between the blocks was flaking away.

  A voice echoed above them. Dig glanced up, then turned to Jules. “Go,” he said. “Along the wall, I’ll catch up.”

  “What are you doing?”

  “Trying to stop them.”

  Jules frowned, then turned and began to walk along the top of the wall with her hands spread wide for balance. Each side dropped down to the roofs below.

  Dig pulled his pack to his chest and unzipped the front pocket. He fished out his house keys and began prising at the mortar between the bricks. After a moment the first brick split away from the top of the wall. He extracted it, then balanced it precariously back in position. He copied this action with the three adjacent bricks before pushing to his feet.

  Above him, Shiv’s head shot out through the window frame. “Here!” Shiv shouted behind him, and began to climb out through the window.

  Dig turned and walked along the wall, as fast as he dared, trying to keep his focus on his feet. Sweat dripped down his temples. A breeze pushed at his side and tried to send him over the edge.

  Dig glanced backwards to see Shiv drop down to the wall. His foot came down on a loose brick and it fell away; his arms pinwheeled and he overbalanced, dropping over the side.

  Shiv hit the roof of one of the shacks, taking the impact on his shoulder. It imploded around him, and he dropped down through the building. Pieces of the ceiling followed him down in a cloud of billowing dust.

  Dig turned his attention forward again, moving along the wall as fast as he dared. Jules stood motionless ahead of him. As he caught up he saw she was staring down at a pile of dirty plastic rubbish heaped against a wall on a street.

  “Jump?”

  “Yep.”

  Jules dropped first, punching into the pile of garbage to her waist. Dig landed beside her, and they pushed out of the trash to the street edge. Motor rickshaws moved along the street in two directions, bouncing through potholes and spewing exhaust behind them. Streams of brown liquid ran down the gutters.

  Dig waved at a motor rickshaw and it rumbled to a stop beside them. They jumped in the back. “Just get us out of here! As quick as you can.”

  The driver wobbled his head and the machine moved forward.

  Dig peered behind them. The rickshaw trundled slowly up the street, but Shiv was nowhere to be seen amongst the crowds. He hunched down in his seat and willed the driver onward.

  When the rickshaw reached the end of the dirt road it turned onto a stretch of asphalt. The driver pulled back the throttle, and the wind blew through their hair as fields of rice and grain appeared on both sides of the street. Piles of rubbish burnt on the fence line. Dig watched the road behind them for a few minutes before turning back to Jules. “I think we lost them.”

  Jules pursed her lips and gave a small shrug. “Along with my only chance to see my brother.”

  “You couldn’t go with them. They’d chop you up.”

  “I need to help him.”

  “We will,” Dig said with a deep breath. “I know where he is.”

  “Where?”

  “Shiv said he took Chook to Hampi. I was there yesterday...in their brewery. I can take you there.”

  “Okay, let’s go then.”

  Dig frowned. “We can’t just turn up, knock on the front door and ask for him back.”

  “Well what else can we do?”

  “I don’t know.” He scratched his head. “Maybe we should just lay low for a bit and figure out a plan.”

  Jules sighed and turned to look out the window. The sun was dropping behind the passing fields. “We’ll head to Badami for the night. It’s a quiet town that’s close to Hampi. They won’t think to look there.”

  “Fine. That’ll give me time to think. There are just...some parts of this that still don’t make sense.”

  “Like what?”

  “Like how the hell my father got caught up in this in the first place, and why he let it go on for so long when it seemed like he didn’t want to be part of it.”

  Jules leaned forward to the driver. “Can you take us to Badami please?”

  “Badami?” The driver’s eyes widened. “This is very long way.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Going to be an expensive rickshaw ride,” Dig muttered.

  “Don’t worry. I just came into a bit of cash.”

  Dig raised his eyebrows. “How much did you steal from the house?”

  “A few million rupee. Straight out of Shiv's private safe.”

  “How much is that in dollars?”

  “I don’t know...about sixty grand?”

  “You’re off the Christmas card list.”

  Jules nodded and gave a weak smile. She moved closer to Dig and rested her head back against the seat. Dig’s stomach gave a flutter as he felt the warmth of her skin against his forearm.

  Outside, the broken asphalt ran away below the rickshaw. The motor hummed in their ears as they bounced along the road. The sun dropped away to a steamy night, and the scenery outside became a blur of streetlights and lit shopfronts.

  15

  “EXCUSE ME SIR...” The voice crept into Dig’s dreams; he became aware of a silence around him. “Hello please.”

  He opened
his eyes. The driver watched him through the rear view mirror. The dimly lit rectangle of a doorway stood in the darkness of the roadside. He checked his watch; it was 2 a.m. They had been driving for eight hours.

  “Badami sir.”

  Dig glanced down at Jules. She lay back against the seat with her eyes closed, mouth slightly ajar and head resting against his shoulder. A small smattering of freckles covered her nose.

  He bumped her with an elbow and she stirred, then opened her eyes and stretched. “We’re here?”

  Dig nodded.

  Jules turned to the driver. “Is this a hotel?”

  “Yes. Badami Hotel.”

  Jules paid him, and they climbed stiffly out of the rickshaw.

  As they entered their room, Jules dropped her bag to the bed and headed for the shower. Dig rubbed at his eyes and walked out to a balcony.

  The hotel sat on the edge of a wide lake framed by cliffs on both sides. A full moon reflected in the water’s mirrored surface. At the far side of the lake the outline of a temple bordered the shore, and below him water lapped against a stepped sandstone ghat. The air was warm and still, and Dig took a long breath in through his nose.

  After a while, Dig glanced back inside to see Jules rummaging through her bag. Her hair was wet, and she was wrapped only in a towel. She looked up and caught Dig’s gaze, then raised an eyebrow. “You want a shower?”

  “Oh, yeah...I do.” He found a towel and a bar of soap, and headed into the bathroom. The hot water drummed into his head. It was a relief to be able to scrub away the grime of the last two days.

  When he returned to the room Jules was sitting on the balcony. She leaned back and the smoke from her cigarette wafted up around her.

  “Great view huh?”

  Jules nodded, then took another drag on her cigarette. The smoke smelled sweet and musky. Dig sat beside her and leaned back with his feet on the balcony railing.

  “When do we get my brother?” Jules said.

  Dig fiddled with the seam of his shirt. “Tomorrow,” he said, and sighed. “Know any armies for hire?”

  Jules’ expression was blank.

  “That was a joke.”

  “Oh.”

  Dig shrugged. “Seriously though, we need to come up with something better than just walking in there.”

  Jules blew out another cloud of smoke. “Nuclear bomb,” she said, then mimicked the sound of an explosion. “Boom! Everything gone.” She stared vacantly out over the balcony.

  Dig offered a strained smile, and glanced at the cigarette in her hand. “You okay?”

  Jules rested the cigarette on an ashtray and pushed herself shakily to her feet. “Toilet.” She walked back into the room.

  Dig nodded, and watched her go. Her shoulder glanced off the door frame as she passed through, and she threw her arms out for balance. “Oops.”

  Dig studied the cigarette smouldering in the tray, then leaned over and picked it up gingerly with thumb and forefinger, and brought it to his nose. It smelled sweet and musky, yet pungent, and his temples tingled for a moment. He returned the cigarette to the ashtray, then leaned back with his hands behind his head, staring blankly out into the night.

  He waited that way until the cigarette burnt three quarters down its length and extinguished itself. Dig frowned and looked back toward the bathroom. The door was open, but Jules was nowhere to be seen.

  He found her lying on the bed. She was on her back, with her head tilted to one side and her eyes closed, wearing a white singlet top and brown cotton track pants. A fan revolved slowly above her head and blew her hair against the pillow. As he approached, he could hear her breathing in a slow, regular pattern.

  “Jules?”

  She remained on her back, unmoved, breathing deeply.

  Dig frowned and walked back to the balcony. He returned to his seat and looked back out at the view, chewing at his lip.

  Eventually the moon faded from the sky and the sun rose over the top of the cliffs. Dig watched it climb, unable to sleep. The streets came to life with dogs barking, motorbikes puttering through the streets and honking horns. His stomach grumbled.

  He shuffled back into the room and stood beside the bed. Jules was now on her side, and tucked under the sheets.

  “Jules? You awake?”

  She stirred, rubbed at her eyes and gave a grunt. “What?”

  “I’m going to grab some food. You want a coffee or something?”

  She sat up in her bed and looked around the room with puffy eyes and a furrowed brow. “Yeah. Coffee is good,” she croaked, and tucked her hair behind her ears as she stepped down to the floor. She walked out to the balcony with one arm wrapped across her ribs; goose bumps covered her arms.

  Dig watched her go, then after a moment he followed her out. She stood staring at the view, holding the remains of last night’s cigarette in a shaky hand. She lifted it to her lips and took a long drag before exhaling a cloud of smoke with the same sweet, musky odour from the night before, then gave a warped smile.

  “Another day in paradise!” she giggled, and reached for the balcony railing before dropping heavily into the seat.

  Dig scratched at the back of his neck. “You brought some gear with you then?”

  “Just a few leftovers.”

  “Today? Is that a good idea?”

  “Don’t see why not.” She arched an eyebrow. “It’s probably my last day, so I may as well try to smooth it out a bit.”

  “Feels to me like you’re giving up.”

  She glared at him. “Feels to me like giving up is the best way. We should just walk in there with our hands up and plead for forgiveness.”

  “No.”

  “Well what’s your plan?”

  Dig’s body tensed and he put a hand to his hip. “Well maybe if you actually tried to help me, instead of spending your time in a drug-induced stupor, I might have one!”

  “You do it your way. I’ll do it mine.”

  Dig face flushed and he clenched his teeth. “I’m going for a walk. We’ll leave at lunchtime.” He paused. “And you should know, when I travelled into Hampi a few days ago they had roadblocks set up on the street, searching for drugs. So if you haven’t ditched all your leftovers by then we’ll both end up in jail and your brother will be sent to the bottom of the river.”

  Jules’ brow creased and she turned away.

  Dig left the building and followed the stepped concrete ghats around the side of the lake. Women sat on the water’s edge, washing clothes and spreading them to dry on the concrete. Dirty pigs rooted through trash. The chirp of small birds flitted through the open air above him.

  He purchased a bread roll and a banana at a small bakery. He pocketed the roll and bit into the banana as he moved down the street.

  The street was lined with shopfronts, and vendors stood in the doorways. A woman from a souvenir store stepped out with a wooden elephant in her hand, nodding; a man with a long-haired moustache and turban tried to entice him into his tailor shop to get measured for a new suit; a small boy accosted him, determined to place a string bracelet on his wrist in exchange for money. But Dig refused them all. His mind churned. He needed space to think. He looked across to the empty cliffs that hugged the lake, and headed toward them.

  By keeping the cliffs in view, he managed to navigate his way through a maze of tight alleyways behind the ghats, and reach the base of the mountain. As the road ended, a stone archway framed a set of stairs that zigzagged their way up the side of the hill. Dig began to climb.

  The cobbled path snaked through large boulders, bushes and patches of orange dirt. Dig climbed the steps in a slow rhythm, his breath in time with his footfalls. Sweat matted the hairs on his forearms together and ran down his backbone.

  After some time, the stairs levelled out to reveal the top of the hill. Here, an ancient rectangular building sat on the cliff edge, constructed from blocks of weathered red sandstone. A stone spire climbed to the sky at one end of the building, and a bird wit
h green and blue feathers preened itself on the peak. A small metal sign at the front of the temple announced the structure was called the Malegitti Shivalaya temple.

  A flat stone courtyard ran out to the edge of the cliff, ringed by a waist-high wall. The ground dropped away steeply on the other side, down to the lake below.

  Dig hoisted himself onto the wall and dangled his legs over the drop. The sandstone was hot on the back of his thighs. A dry, dusty breeze blew past him and cooled the sweat on his arms and legs. He looked out at the view.

  To his left, a waterfall cascaded over the top of the mountain and dropped down into the lake with a trickling whisper. On the opposite side of the lake, the dark shadows of caves cut into the red sandstone of the mountain. To the right, the concrete ghats dammed the lake and formed the edge of the town. Dig spotted their hotel, and an image of Jules came into his mind, sitting on the balcony, smoking. He clenched his teeth.

  He took in a deep breath, and tried to think clearly. By the end of the day he needed to confront Maxine again, yet if they just walked straight into the brewery they were doomed. He was scared. But did he have any choice?

  Could he just return home and hope for the best? He thought not. Now he understood the full workings of the Banyan Brewery, they weren't going to let him escape. He sighed and shifted in his seat, then reached into his pocket and retrieved the bread roll. He bit into it with a crunch.

  A flapping approached from behind him, and Dig turned to see the multicoloured bird cruise down from the top of the temple and land beside him on the wall. It cocked its head.

  Dig tucked the bread roll under his armpit and waved at the bird. “Shoo,” he said, and the bird squawked, fell away over the cliff, then circled back around to perch on top of the temple spire.

  Dig bit back into the bread roll, when from behind his right ear someone spoke.

  “Don’t push it away.”

  Dig flinched, and turned to an elderly man standing behind him. He had a bushy white beard and long grey hair that surrounded a wrinkled, weather-beaten face. A yellow circle of paint was positioned between his eyebrows. He wore a white robe and a length of yellow fabric draped around his shoulders.