The Midas Legacy (Wilde/Chase 12) Read online

  Somewhere in the distance, she heard an odd noise, a rumbling hiss. It continued for several seconds, then stopped. ‘Did you hear that?’ she asked Eddie.

  ‘Yeah,’ he replied. ‘Hey, Rudra. What was that?’

  ‘The dragon,’ the monk replied.

  ‘No need to be sarcastic.’

  ‘I was not.’

  Eddie rolled his eyes at Nina, who shrugged, wondering what he meant. They resumed their trek.

  The trudging climb continued around the mountain, revealing a new frozen vista beyond as empty as that behind them. It also revealed something new along their path – something worrying.

  Eddie saw it too. ‘You’re f . . . lippin’ kidding.’

  ‘Amaanat! Are you sure that’s safe?’ Nina called to the abbot. He had reached a vertical cleft cutting deeply into the rock face, an ancient geological fault some fifteen feet across. The route upwards continued on its far side – but the only way to reach it was by traversing an extremely rickety-looking rope bridge.

  ‘In my time at Detsen monastery, eighteen monks have fallen from this bridge,’ he warned.

  ‘That’s kind of a huge no, then.’

  ‘It is less than one every two years.’

  ‘Still not filling me with confidence!’

  The elderly man smiled. ‘Watch me. Do what I do, follow my footsteps.’

  A guide rope was stretched along the inside of the bridge. He gripped it with his left hand, then held his right arm out for balance as he took small, precise steps over the planks.

  ‘You holding your breath?’ Eddie whispered.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ Nina replied, not daring to exhale in case she blew the monk off his feet.

  Amaanat reached the midpoint. He paused as a gust of wind set the bridge swinging, hunching down to dampen the motion, then continued. A few more steps and he reached the relative security of a short length of rocky ledge.

  Nina finally allowed herself to breathe. ‘That wasn’t terrifying at all.’

  ‘We’ve still got to get across it,’ Eddie reminded her.

  ‘Thanks for that, hon.’

  Rudra crossed next, more quickly than the abbot, as if trying to prove a point, then it was Eddie’s turn. The Englishman held the rope before gingerly putting one foot on the bridge. ‘I should probably say something reassuring about now, shouldn’t I?’ he said, looking back at Nina with a strained grin.

  ‘Yeah, that would help!’

  ‘How about . . . at least we’re not being shot at?’ He winked. ‘All right. Let’s do this.’

  He followed Amaanat’s example, taking controlled, measured steps. The wood creaked underfoot. Nina cringed, but Eddie steadied himself, then carried on. Five feet to go, three, two . . . then he took a long step to take the waiting Rudra’s hand on the far side. ‘Thanks,’ he said, before looking back at his wife. ‘Take it steady, and you’ll be fine.’

  Nina clamped her hand around the guide rope. ‘Look at the bridge, not the . . . total nothingness under it,’ she muttered. From here, she could see that the cleft cut a good seventy feet into the mountainside, and stretched seemingly to infinity below. ‘Okay. Take it steady. Real steady.’

  She put one foot on the first plank. It shifted slightly beneath her. Steeling herself, she stepped forward.

  Her heart began to pound. The whole bridge was swaying, and the wind was now picking up, snow being plucked from small outcrops below and spiralling skywards past her. ‘It’s all right,’ called Eddie reassuringly. ‘You’re doing fine. Just keep going.’

  ‘I’m sure as hell not going to stop,’ she said as she continued her nervous advance. Halfway over, three quarters . . .

  A sharp gust – and the entire bridge lurched.

  Nina tried to drop as Amaanat had done, but the planks had swung out from beneath her centre of gravity, overbalancing her. The vertical cleft opened up below—

  The guide rope snapped taut. Pain flared in her clenching fingers, but she maintained her grip. She crouched to steady herself, then took hold of the line with her other hand. ‘Jesus!’

  ‘Sh . . . oes!’ yelled Eddie. ‘Nina, are you okay?’

  She somehow forced a smile. ‘You still managed not to swear.’

  ‘It was close! Are you all right?’

  ‘Yeah, I’m fine, just feeling like my adrenal gland exploded.’ She cautiously straightened. ‘I’m coming over.’

  She set off again, trying to balance the need for care against her desperate urge to reach comparative safety. Step, step, feeling the planks waver – and then Eddie grabbed her hand and pulled her on to the ledge. ‘Got you.’

  ‘Oh, thank God!’ She hugged him.

  Amaanat called back to her. ‘Are you all right, Dr Wilde?’

  ‘Yes thanks. That was close, though!’

  ‘I warned you how dangerous this place can be.’

  ‘It’d be less dangerous if you built a proper bridge!’ said Eddie angrily.

  Rudra scowled, but the abbot shrugged off the criticism. ‘Our legends say that this’ – he indicated the chasm – ‘was cut by the sword of the bodhisattva Manjusri when he fought the dragon of the mountain. We cannot close the wound in case the dragon regains his strength.’

  ‘I don’t think dragons are what you should be worried about,’ Nina complained.

  The old monk smiled knowingly. ‘You will soon see that is not so.’ He went to the end of the ledge and resumed his precarious trek along the stepped platforms, Rudra following.

  ‘Sure you’re okay?’ Eddie asked Nina.

  She nodded. ‘Yeah. But let’s not do that again.’

  ‘Still glad to be back out in the field?’

  A narrow-eyed smile. ‘Get moving, you.’

  He laughed, then set off after the two monks. Nina waited until he had cleared the next platform before continuing, Jayesh and the other monks crossing the bridge behind her.

  As the group made their way around the mountain, Nina’s resurgent vertigo discouraged her from admiring the view, however spectacular. It also grew steadily colder as the sun moved behind the wall of rock.

  The line of platforms eventually ended. She wondered if they had reached their destination, before seeing that they were instead changing direction – going straight up. Rungs had been driven into the sheer stone to create a ladder, ascending for about a hundred feet. Amaanat had already begun to climb. Rudra clambered up behind him.

  Eddie reached the foot of the ladder. ‘Think they need to spend a bit of the money they make from selling gold knick-knacks on Hammerite.’ He tugged at one of the rust-scabbed metal bars. To Nina’s relief, it didn’t move.

  He let Rudra open up a gap for safety, and was about to climb after him when he froze and looked across the valley with a quizzical expression. ‘What is it?’ asked Nina.

  ‘Thought I heard a chopper.’

  She followed his gaze. The distant echoing thrum of a helicopter’s rotors reached her, but she could see no sign of any aircraft. ‘You expecting company?’ she called to Amaanat.

  ‘Ever since the earthquake, there are many more helicopters,’ he answered. Eddie still appeared dubious, but the sound soon died away. ‘Be careful here. Some of the rungs need to be repaired.’

  ‘Don’t suppose you remember which ones, do you?’ said the Yorkshireman, but he got no reply. With a sigh, he followed Rudra upwards, Nina behind him.

  As Amaanat had warned, some of the rungs were in poor condition, a few so heavily corroded that they had sheared apart. ‘Watch out on this one,’ Eddie told Nina and Jayesh as he passed the halfway point, finding a particularly ragged example. ‘Don’t want to catch tetanus.’

  ‘As if we don’t have enough to worry about,’ said Nina.

  ‘Yeah. Don’t think we packed any
thing in the first-aid—’

  He had gripped a new rung – which lurched in its mounting holes. One of his feet slipped, the jagged end of the broken bar slicing an ugly gash into his boot. ‘Ffff . . . ishing hook!’ he yelled as he secured himself. Rudra stopped above him, looking down in alarm. ‘You could’ve warned me!’ The young monk appeared genuinely contrite.

  ‘Are you okay, Eddie?’ said Nina, worried.

  ‘Just got a bit of a shock, that’s all. Don’t put any weight on this one.’ He thumped the offending rung with a balled fist, taking a very careful look at the ones above before resuming his ascent.

  The rest of the climb was made safely. To the visitors’ enormous relief, the top of the ladder led to the solidity of a ledge. The group advanced along it, crossing another section of planks before reaching a further ledge. Ahead, a second ladder continued upwards, but something beyond it caught Nina’s eye. ‘Are we here? Is that it?’

  A squat wooden structure was tucked against the cliff, half buried in snow. ‘No,’ said Amaanat. ‘That is the shelter. I hope we will not need it.’ He drew back the cuff of his coat, revealing a watch. ‘Yes, you will be able to see what is inside the Midas Cave and return before sunset. The timing is perfect.’

  ‘Timing for what?’ she asked, but he began to scale the next ladder without answering.

  Rudra went up behind him. Nina waited for Eddie to follow, but now he too was staring at something along the ledge – not the shelter, but a small crevice nearer to them. ‘That’s weird.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘The snow. I mean, the no snow.’ A teardrop-shaped gap in the white covering directly in front of the little opening revealed bare rock, a rime of frost glistening on it. ‘Looks like it’s melted.’

  ‘Why would it only melt there?’ Nina wondered.

  ‘Dunno.’ He glanced back at Jayesh as the Gurkha joined them. ‘Keep an eye out,’ he whispered to his friend.

  ‘You think they’re going to try something?’ said Nina.

  ‘I dunno what they’re going to do. Better safe than sorry, eh?’

  The visitors made their way up the ladder. This one was fairly short, about thirty feet, and ended at a much larger and broader ledge strewn with boulders.

  A cave entrance was set into the foot of the cliff, a small wooden hut to one side. As with the crevice below, the ground immediately before the opening was devoid of snow.

  There was no indication that anyone else was already here, though: no footprints other than Amaanat’s and Rudra’s, no smouldering remains of fires. So what had caused the snow to melt?

  ‘Is that the Midas Cave?’ Nina asked, starting towards the entrance.

  ‘It is,’ replied Amaanat, holding up a hand to warn her back. ‘But you must wait before we can go inside.’

  ‘Why?’ asked Eddie.

  ‘You will see. In . . .’ he checked his wrist, ‘six minutes. Please, wait over there.’

  The other monks assembled where the abbot had indicated, putting down their heavy packs. Now intrigued, Nina joined them, Eddie and Jayesh standing slightly apart from everyone else to maintain a discreet watch.

  The minutes ticked by. ‘So whatever’s about to happen, it happens to a schedule?’ Nina asked Amaanat.

  ‘Always,’ he said. ‘You are lucky to be here at this time of the year. It begins at the end of winter and continues until summer. It has done so since Talonor first came to this place, and long before.’

  ‘And it always happens on time?’ said Eddie.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Whatever it is, we should get it to run the trains.’

  Nina smiled, then looked at her own watch. Less than a minute, if Amaanat was right. Less than a minute before she had the answer that her mother had sought for so long . . .

  She became aware of an odd, unsettling sensation, but couldn’t identify it – until she realised that the ground itself was shivering. A low rumble gradually became audible, a hiss rising above it. ‘What’s that?’

  ‘The dragon,’ announced Amaanat. ‘The dragon is breathing.’

  No sooner had he spoken than the sound became a whooshing roar – and a great blast of steam burst from the cave mouth, sweeping across the bare stone before the dense cloud of rising vapour was caught by the wind, dispersing into tendrils. More rose from below as a smaller jet gushed out of the narrow crevice on the lower ledge. The thunderous expulsion continued for several seconds before fading. A few last puffs escaped the cave, then everything fell silent and still.

  Eddie and Nina regarded the entrance in shock. ‘What the hell was that?’ she said, wide-eyed.

  The abbot gave her a gentle, knowing smile. ‘That,’ he said, ‘was the secret of the Midas Cave. And now I shall show it to you.’

  11

  The secret was not revealed immediately. To Nina’s rising frustration, Amaanat insisted that they wait before entering; because of the heat, he said, but she couldn’t help thinking there was more to it.

  Her suspicion was confirmed several minutes later. Rudra went into the hut beside the steaming cave entrance, re-emerging clad in something that made her give Eddie a worried look. ‘That’s reassuring.’

  The monk wore a bright yellow hazmat suit, the thick plastic overall covering him from head to foot. More alarming still, he carried a boxy device that when turned on emitted an ominous crackling noise. ‘Is that a Geiger counter?’ said Eddie, taking an involuntary step backwards.

  Nina was equally horrified. ‘The cave’s radioactive?’

  Amaanat raised his hands to placate them. ‘The steam is radioactive, not the cave. It will be safe, but we must wait for the readings to fall before we can go inside.’

  ‘How long will that take?’

  ‘Not long. Please, be patient.’

  Rudra disappeared inside the tunnel. Minutes passed, then he returned, pulling back the hazmat suit’s hood. ‘It is clear,’ he announced. The Geiger counter was still growling, but at a much lower level.

  Amaanat spoke to the other monks, and all but one took metal containers the size of large paint tins from their backpacks. Their contents were much heavier than paint, though. One monk’s fingers slipped, his canister dropping the few inches to the ground with a thud that sounded as if someone had pounded the earth with a sledgehammer.

  Meanwhile, the man who had carried the ropes produced something about the size of a basketball, wrapped in thick layers of cloth. From the reverent way he handled it, it was clearly of great value. Nina was about to ask what it was, but the abbot spoke first. ‘Please, follow me.’

  Jayesh lit another cigarette. ‘I’ll stay here,’ he told Eddie. ‘Keep my eyes open.’

  ‘See you soon,’ Eddie replied. A nod was the only reply he needed for reassurance.

  Rudra had by now removed the protective suit and returned it and the Geiger counter to the hut. He emerged carrying a pair of lanterns. They were clockwork; he gave a charged one to Amaanat, then began winding the handle to power up the other. ‘He will follow us inside,’ said Amaanat as he switched on his light and entered the cave. ‘This way.’

  ‘You absolutely sure it’s safe?’ Eddie asked. ‘I don’t want to end up with an extra head growing out of my stomach like Kuato.’ Nina looked askance at him. ‘From Total Recall,’ he added.

  ‘I know.’

  ‘The original, not the crappy remake.’

  ‘I know.’

  He flapped his hands before his chest and put on a croaky voice. ‘“Start the reactor!”’

  ‘Will you be quiet?’

  ‘There is nothing to fear,’ the monk told them as he made his way deeper. ‘But we must leave before the next burst of steam. Which will be in . . .’ he consulted his watch, ‘forty-six minutes.’

  Nina examined the walls, and the wo
oden beams supporting them. The condition of neither made her feel safer. But there was something odd about the rock, she realised. As they moved away from the entrance, she caught faint glints of reflected lamplight from all around, as if tiny flecks of metal were embedded in the walls.

  Not just the walls. The wood, too. Whatever it was, it covered everything.

  The tunnel sloped downwards into the heart of the mountain, the air becoming hotter and more humid. As they rounded a bend, the light from behind was cut off. ‘It is not much further,’ said Amaanat.

  Eddie spotted drips coming from a hairline crack in the ceiling. ‘Water’s getting in.’

  ‘It is from the snow as it melts. But without it, what you are about to see could not happen.’

  ‘So what are we about to see?’ asked Nina.

  The passage narrowed as they rounded another turn. ‘This,’ said Amaanat.

  Nina and Eddie both stopped, stunned by the sight.

  The cave was made of gold.

  Every surface was covered in the precious metal, as if it had been slathered thickly over walls, floor and ceiling. Even the pit props had been absorbed into the shimmering coating. At the far side of the space, a six-foot-wide chasm dropped vertically downwards, the ragged rock also caked in gold. A tall, heavy-duty tripod spanned the gap, a pulley hanging from its top. The arrangement was the only thing in the chamber that had not been completely gilded, but even this had a distinct sheen to it.

  ‘Whoa,’ Nina said finally. ‘Okay, now I understand why Midas’s name is associated with gold.’ She took in the whole of her incredible surroundings. ‘But this isn’t a natural seam. This has been . . . deposited. How?’

  Eddie took a closer look at one wall, examining where a prop met the rock. The gleaming covering had softened any sharp edges as if it had oozed to fill every corner. ‘It must be an inch thick! I don’t even want to think how much this lot’s worth.’