And now things were moving out of control fast. Some Aihikians speculated that if the Asuras could break through the last guard, maybe they’d finally leave his people alone. They’d move their battles too far up the mountain to bother with the humans any longer and the Aihikians would finally be free. But Desmond doubted that. Now that they’d felt the power of holding a human soul, he doubted the Asuras would ever leave them alone, especially if they were now the most powerful of the Devas on the mountain. Owning a soul must be like having the biggest drug high in the universe.
But, until that happened, the Asuras would use ancient black magic to extract the pure essence of the children’s souls and place it into their own bodies. They would use the babies’ kammic energies, their souls, as an instrument to fight their war. Their human auras had powers, and a Deva housing the additional power of a human soul was invincible--at least for a short time.
Desmond grimaced. He’d seen those children. The ones with their souls stolen. They’d sometimes found them discarded at the base of the mountain, strewn about like garbage. That was what they were after their energy had been taken and used by the Asuras. Empty, vacant and hollow shells that simply lay there, alive, but lifeless. They could not eat, they could not cry, they could not even sleep or react. No one could do anything for them but keep them comfortable until they finally passed on, which they usually did after an agonizing week of slowly watching them die.
Desmond turned back to where the Yeti had stood. What would Kelsey think? Once again, he wished she were here with him. He considered something and turned to Odran. “You know, Tibetan lore claims Yetis are considered protectors of the door to Shambala.”
Odran crinkled his nose. “Shambala? Don’t you mean Xanadu?”
Desmond cocked his head, considering. “They may be one and the same. On all the human realms.”
Odran ran his hand through his bushy brown hair in frustration. “But where did this baby the Yeti brought come from? There are no more children in this part of the world to take. We have canvassed the entire region for miles around and there are no pregnant females. All who remain are under the protection of our camp and those kept prisoner in the mountains.”
Desmond grimaced. “This means someone is bringing them through to Aihika from the other realms. There are obviously portals we don’t know about.”
“But where are they and who would do this?” Odran asked. “What motive could they possibly have? What, are they helping the Asuras? We have no traitors in our midst, Garrett.”
At that, Desmond had no answer. The known portals were all being watched and monitored and all the remaining children left in the land had armed guards protecting them. But still, children kept coming. And if they kept coming, then the Asuras would continue to gain footholds in the mountain and the war would never end until one of the Deva factions won. But until that happened, things would continue this devastating course until his people simply disappeared. Life on the first of the human realms would essentially be over.
They had to find out who these children were.
And from where.
He gripped the object in his hand. “Odran, does gold have significance in this world?”
Odran raised his brows. “They say it is significant, but for what, I don’t know anymore. So much of our history was lost over the centuries. Garrett, our proximity to this world allows the magic of the above Deva worlds to filter down. Do you remember our teachings in school? How humans could originally fly and shined with their own inner light, just like the Devas? Can you imagine not ever needing food? But lore says that over lengths of time, humans began to eat and their bodies slowly adapted and changed and their powers disappeared. So now, we have only our auras and our ability to flip the worlds with the portals. Beyond that, I don’t know what else we can do any longer. We are simply human.”
“But the gold?” Desmond asked. “There has to be something significant about it.”
Odran sighed. “I wish I knew, cousin. I wish I knew.”
Chapter 14
Kelsey moved to the back of the cabin and examined the footprint that was still visible. A noise sounded behind her and she whirled around. There, just a few feet from her, stood the Yeti from the night before. In the daylight and up close he appeared even more threatening than the photos of Bigfoot and the Yetis Josh had shown her. This wasn’t some eight foot tall, oversized ape that simply stood on its wide hind legs, but a specimen much more man-like. It radiated a powerful energy, one that she could feel deep in her core. It was the same feeling she had when she was in the presence of the Emperor and Empress, her Deva protector Pancaggala, or any of the minions of Mara when she’d fought them in Xanadu. She fully understood now that this creature was not of this plane of existence, just hidden where no one could find him. This creature came from another realm and just being next to him elicited an intense feeling deep in her gut.
His eyes were not yellow as she’d thought they were, but a hazel filled with flecks of gold that shined with an otherworldly light. His stare was intelligent and scrutinizing and didn’t waiver from hers. Though it was cold outside, the Yeti seemed unaffected, because it was covered in a thick coat of brown hair. Gray tufts and whiskers grew on his face and she realized he was very old. Legends said Yetis could live hundreds of years.
She craned her neck to peer up at him and wondered if she could fight at all against this massive creature with its muscular arms and basketball sized hands if it tried to attack her. Hands that seemed able to crush her in a single squeeze.
This creature had apparently been in many fights. Thick, healed scars covered its forehead and cheeks. She could see the constriction around the cheek area from old burns, but it was the mutilations on his torso that gave her pause. They were healed, but the Yeti had once been in a horrific battle that she was sure he’d been lucky to have actually survived. Deep and jagged scars covered the entire length of his chest in a criss-cross pattern. The hair on the skin had not grown back over them, leaving them clearly defined.
Her eyes traveled across its great body, settling finally on his bare feet, which were elongated and thick with callouses.
She heard the creature’s heavy breathing. His chest heaved as if it had just run a great distance or was in pain. But what disturbed her most was the brown viscous substance on his hands and the hair of his arms. She was sure it was old blood.
Kelsey remained still. She didn’t want to startle the Yeti into doing something rash. The Yeti did the same and for a moment they simply stared at each other. It made a noise, one that rumbled from deep within its chest, and the hair on the back of Kelsey’s neck instantly prickled. A strange, horrifying memory tickled at the back of her mind. A fleeting, violent image. A scene from a past long ago. Kelsey blinked and tried to remember. This creature lay on the ground with a set of fresh, deep slashes across its stomach in the shape of a cross. They bled profusely and the snow under him was crimson with his blood. A young Tlingit girl, beautiful and ethereal looking, leaned over the creature and pressed a Chilkat blanket to his wound. The girl was badly injured as well. Kelsey could see blood drip from the girl’s own head wound and down her cheeks and onto her dress. She swayed on her feet but still kept the pressure on the creature’s injuries.
Kelsey could make out the intricate patterns in the Chilkhat weave turning red as the Yeti’s blood seeped through.
Suddenly the girl flinched and twisted her head to peer over her shoulder. Her almond- shaped eyes widened in fear and dark shapes and shadows surrounded her. The Yeti grunted and the girl screamed.
A violent pain pierced Kelsey’s heart and she staggered. She knew that girl. Knew who she was. Another of her own reincarnations had just returned to her in a single, violent memory. Kelsey glanced back at the Yeti and his gaze had not strayed from her own face. He knows who I am. I’ve met him before. That’s why I have this strange feeling looking at him. We were both attacked in that particular lifetime. Mara came for me and I died,
but he lived.
What was my Tlingit name? Kelsey desperately wanted to give that lost girl a name. She squinted and thought hard. A complicated sounding clan name came to her. One given to her by the elders of her tribe. It sounded like a whisper on the wind, just floating at the back of her memory, but she couldn’t catch it. She did remember a nickname. Yes, one that her own Tlingit father had lovingly called her. Kelsey recalled him now. His image was clear in her memory. He’d been a fisherman and a kind, gentle person. His smile had been so wide, it stretched across his face comically, and everyone always joked about it. He had the same almond-shaped brown eyes and his arms were so strong they could lift her up in a hug and twirl her around as if she were as light as a doll.
Blossom. Yes, that was her familiar name. Her father had given her that nickname when she was a baby because he’d thought she’d been as beautiful as a summer bloom.
The vision came again and Kelsey flinched… A dark shadow loomed behind the girl and with a violent attack, something struck her from behind. She collapsed onto the Yeti. The creature covered her with his arms protectively as men surrounded them. He growled deep in his throat and rose as the men converged on them both. And then a flash of light blinded her and another shadow loomed within it. A bald head, a robe… a weapon. For a brief moment, Kelsey swore she saw a Shaolin Monk.
And then the vision vanished.
Chills ran through her. She could see these men who attacked her and knew who they were. They’d been sent by her father, Mara, to kill her, and in that lifetime, they had succeeded. She’d been just sixteen and in that timeline the young girl’s path had ended by doing a good deed. She could have saved herself and run away, but she’d tended to the Yeti instead and he knew it. But did someone come back to protect the Yeti? Why had they protected him and not her?
The vision disappeared. She stared at the creature and spoke softly. “You tried to save me once. You can read souls? How is that possible? Are you a Deva?”
The Yeti raised his blood streaked hands and touched the scars on his torso.
Kelsey didn’t know what he meant. “I don’t understand. Please, you must tell me. Are you perhaps a protector?”
The Yeti didn’t answer.
“Did you take the boy? You must tell me.”
The creature grunted and risked a pointed glance back into the woods.
She followed his gaze. She felt torn between being furious at this creature for possibly hurting the child, and gratitude for how it once tried to save her. She had to understand. “Did you take him into the woods? If so, you need to bring him home right now. I can help you.”
Instead of answering, the creature moved swiftly. So quickly that he nearly became a blur, until it stood directly in front of her. She barely had time to flinch. He stood so close she could smell the scent of pine and wet fur emanating from him. She could smell the iron scent of the blood drying on his hair. The air was cold and smoke swirled from his flat nostrils and through the patches of gray tufts of hair that streaked across its large head. Doing her best not to move, she remained frozen while the creature raised its arm out to her and opened its palm. He held something in his hand.
She glanced at the Yeti and then back at his offering.
The creature grunted and shook his hand at her. Without another thought, she plucked the object from his palm.
It made another deep rumble from the depths of his chest and then turned and fled into the woods.
Kelsey watched it go before turning the object over to examine at it.
It was a misshapen gold nugget, easily the size of a golf ball. Dirt was still caked to its surface as if it had just been dug up from the ground. She had to understand.
And more importantly, why had their paths crossed before and he was saved, but she was not?
A growing anger spread through her being. The monks would know about this. As would the Emperor and Empress.
Kelsey glanced into the cabin window. Ari was having a heated discussion with someone on the phone. He picked up her pillow and threw it angrily across the room.
She turned back to the woods and then glanced up at the darkening sky. She had to make a decision. Daylight had nearly disappeared and the temperature was dropping rapidly. There was no time to tell Ari what she planned to do. Nor did she want to.
She went after the Yeti.
#
Kelsey trailed the Yeti for over an hour and forty minutes. It moved quickly, but because of her physical conditioning, she could easily keep up, even though she estimated she’d alternately walked and jogged easily eight to ten miles at a pretty fast clip. He wandered due north and she kept her flashlight at her side, thankful that the sky was clear and she could make out his path.
Kelsey found herself at times on the Chilkoot Trail, seeing clearly the signs left for hikers. At other times the Yeti moved off that trajectory onto a vague, hardly-traveled pass through the woods. Still, he never veered, never turned, and never stopped moving north.
The trail finally widened, and soon the path became a well-traveled dirt road. A pair of headlights bobbed into view and Kelsey saw the Yeti dart quickly into the woods. A beat-up Jeep bumped along the trail and idled to a stop a hundred feet ahead. The Yeti observed it from his position and then turned to her, for the first time acknowledging that it, indeed, knew she had followed him all along.
Kelsey crept up and peeked around a tree trunk to observe, at the same time trying to catch her breath. She watched in shock as Sitaula emerged from the Jeep. What is he doing in the woods at this time of night?
He held a bag in his arms, a heavy one from the way his shoulders slumped with the weight. He trudged in the direction of an abandoned building that was little more than a standing frame. He disappeared inside and the woods were so silent she heard the distinct sound of a match swipe. Seconds later a soft, flickering yellow light glowed from within and she could hear the sound of glass or pottery clinking together.
Kelsey crept up to one of the dilapidated walls and peeked through a rotted hole in the wooden slat. She didn’t understand what she saw. He’s praying here?
Sitaula had laid out a long, horizontal mat and placed seven small bowls on the floor in a row. Between the third and fourth bowl, he’d lit a bronze-colored butter lamp. That’s what she’d seen glowing. She was familiar with what he prepared to do. Butter lamps were regularly used in meditation to awaken the mind and she realized he combined that with a Yonchap ceremony water offering. This type of offering was a basic practice in Vajrayhana Buddhism. It taught generosity and helped the practitioner open his heart and overcome greed in his present state.
Sitaula poured from the left, filling each of the bowls of water while saying a prayer. Kelsey had expected him to speak the Seven-Limb Prayer, which was usually said with this type of offering:
“With my body, speech, and mind, humbly I prostrate.
I make offerings both set out and imagined.
I declare every unwholesome action I have ever committed. I rejoice in the virtues of all beings.
Please stay until samsara ends,
And please turn the Wheel of Dharma for us.
I dedicate all these virtues to the great Enlightenment.”
Instead he spoke the Ah Kha Sma Ransa Shanda Rasa Maraya Phet Mantra. It translated into English as ‘The Lion-Faced Dakini.’ It stymied her. This particular mantra was uttered to counter the most malignant kind of demonic forces. It also dealt with one’s own negativity and could reverse black magic. What reason was he doing this? Kelsey knew he was not a typical Buddhist monk, but playing with strong prayers was dangerous, even for master practitioners.
When Sitaula finished the prayer, he sat back on his heels and sang a hymn that baffled Kelsey as well. It was about the Asuras.
May he, gold-handed Asura, kind leader, come hither to us with his help and favor.
Driving off Raksasas and Yatudhanas, the god is present, praised in hymns at evening.
Kelsey had stu
died that prayer when she’d returned from Egypt in her eagerness to understand everything about the battle between the Asuras and the Trāyastriṃśa Devas. She’d read many texts and translations and this one she recalled had been translated by a gentleman named Ralph Griffith.
But why was Sitaula humming an Asura prayer? It didn’t make sense. “Kind Asura leader?” While they were powerful and mighty Devas, the Asuras were considered addictive creatures prone to insincerity, boasting, pride and envy. They were not creatures one should look up to or deign to emulate.
What Sitaula did next made even less sense. He bent and removed a final jar from his bag. With a twist, he opened the canister and slowly poured out the contents of the container around the inside perimeter of the building. She held her breath as he passed by her. She was still too far away to see the material he spilled, but could see little puffs of smoke curls. She glanced towards where the Yeti stood, but he had disappeared.
Kelsey watched Sitaula replace the now empty container back in his bag, heard him say a final set of prayers and then watched him return to his car and leave. When his Jeep had disappeared down the mountain, only then did she creep up to the door and step inside.
A dull glow was all that remained from the butter lamp flame. Kelsey turned on her flashlight to see what offering Sitaula had made.
She bent to her knees. It seemed to be a steady stream of pale gray ash the texture of sand. Kelsey pushed her finger into the ash and swirled the mixture around. Her jaw hardened. It wasn’t just ash she was feeling and seeing. There were sharp objects within the sand. Pieces of bones. Hard shards and fragments. She hoped it wasn’t what she thought they were.
Or who.
A noise sounded behind her and she whirled towards the door. The Yeti stood there holding a child’s bright yellow down jacket, stained with blood. It had been ripped to shreds. He dropped it on the floor and fled back into the woods.
The Call of Mount Sumeru Page 12
