The Green Lama: Unbound (The Green Lama Legacy Book 3) (13 page)

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness Vasili could see piles of fish carcasses in varying states of decay, squelching beneath his boots with each hesitant step. But Alexei kept moving deeper and deeper into the cavern with unshakable purpose, while the entryway dropped down to a clouded pinprick in the darkness. And even though the sea fell further and further into the distance, the crashing of waves grew louder with each minute. Despite the torches set up intermittently throughout the cave, Vasili struggled to see more than a few steps in front of him, while Alexei seemed to walk through every turn and over every divot with practiced grace.

“You come here often, sir?” Vasili asked.

“Too often, my dear boy. Far too often,” Alexei replied without looking back. He stopped short at a small opening in the cave and grumbled. “Where are they…? Ke’ta!
Narreta nu?
” he shouted in the Twins’ bubbling tongue, his voice echoing.

There was no reply.

Alexei glanced back to Vasili. “Do you have your pistol, son?”

“Of course,” he replied, feeling the weight against his side.

“Give it to me,” Alexei instructed. Vasili placed the weapon is the old man’s extended hand, knowing better than to question him. “Thank you. Ke’ta!” Alexei shouted into the darkness again. “Ke’ta!!!
Narreta nu, b’eheh soui tu’kanar’ren en!
”

The words were lost on Vasili, but he understood their intent: Alexei was angry.

A moment passed before one of the Twins’ voice echoed through the cave. To Vasili’s ears he sounded reluctant, maybe even scared. Alexei gave Vasili a mirthless smile, beckoning him forward. “This way,” he said indicating a turn in the passage.

They moved down into the gradually darkening passageway, the sound of water—rushing, crashing, dripping—growing louder. Vasili glanced back to find the entrance had now completely disappeared, and wondered, not for the first time, if he could find his way back alone.

They squeezed through a small opening at the end the path and stepped onto a small jetty overlooking a massive subterranean sea. Light poured in through a small hole in the ceiling, casting everything in a pale blue glow. The Twins stood side by side, waist deep in the water, the bottom of their robes floating with the tide while the tops clung to their bony frames. Water dripped from their masks and headdresses. They had been swimming, Vasili realized, hoping his face didn’t betray his surprise. One Twin stood up straight, almost regal, while his compatriot was hunched over in pain.

“Welcome,” the regal Twin gurgled, bowing slightly.

“Ke’ta, what happened to Roe’qua?” Alexei asked, indicating the hunched Twin.

Vasili glanced back and forth between the two as the regal Twin— Ke’ta—babbled a response while the hunched Twin—Roe’qua—swayed back and forth, threatening to collapse. Up until now Vasili would have never been able to tell them apart, how Alexei could was beyond him.

Alexei held up a disciplinary hand, cutting short the Twin’s rambling. “Ke’ta, please say it in Greek so Vasili will understand. Now, you were telling me about last night…” Alexei lead.

Ke’ta’s head bowed in thought. “Yyyesss…As I say to you, I had gave Germans Shard, you ask as I do,” Ke’ta croaked in awkward grammar. “Bearded One, D—Doctor. He, I gave to. Understood Shard’s importance.”

“Very good, but that doesn’t explain Roe’qua,” Alexei said with a tight smile. He looked over to the swaying Twin. “Tell me, Roe’qua, why were you at Astrapios’s last night?”

Vasili’s eyebrows shot up. How could Alexei know that? Even the Twins seemed surprised, their bodies stiffening.

Alexei stepped into the freezing water, unaffected by the cold. Standing in front of Roe’qua, Alexei placed his hands behind his back and slowly asked the question again. Roe’qua shook his head slowly, mumbling in his unusual tongue. Alexei tilted his head as he listened, but Vasili could see the old man’s face begin to turn red. Even Ke’ta sensed Alexei’s growing anger, slowly moving away as Roe’qua rambled on.

“Answer my question!” Alexei shrieked, his voice echoing throughout the waterlogged grotto. Ke’ta jumped back in surprise while Roe’qua curled into himself. The old man’s face was blood red, the veins on his neck and forehead bulging, his eyes pushing out from his skull. Vasili had been witness to Alexei’s rages before, but he had never seen him like this.

Roe’qua whispered a response, which only succeeding in angering Alexei more.

“What does he mean, you don’t know where the Tablet is?!” Alexei screamed at Ke’ta, spit flying from his mouth like venom.

“Tablet you had gave forgery!” Ke’ta protested. “Not real! Not source of Shard!”

Alexei gritted his teeth. “Then who has it?”

“No know. Send Roe’qua look for it, thought hidden in secret. But then—”

Roe’qua croaked, interrupting Ke’ta with a long string of sounds. Vasili thought he heard something that sounded like “jade monk,” but it could have easily been his imagination.

Alexei’s eyes went wide. “He was there?” he whispered, stepping over to Roe’qua.

The Twin nodded affirmatively.

“Why?”

The Twin shook his head. He didn’t know.

Alexei, though unsatisfied, knew he wouldn’t get a better answer. “And what happened?”

Roe’qua gurgled a sad reply.

Alexei’s face was a dark maroon—nearing black, but his voice was calm when he instructed Vasili to step outside.

“Sir?”

Alexei refused to meet Vasili’s gaze. “Just next to the opening. Stay there unless I call for you.”

Vasili nodded, knowing better than to protest. As he walked away, he could see Alexei rubbing his thumb along the gun handle. Vasili knew what was coming next.

“Don’t look back,” Alexei said over his shoulder.

Vasili ducked back through the hole. He walked a few steps away from the opening before shifting over to the side, out of view of Alexei and the others, but still within earshot.

“Show me, Roe’qua,” he heard Alexei say, the old man’s voice hoarse yet firm.

Vasili tried to fight the urge to look back inside. No one knew what the Twins looked like, but if Alexei saw him… But even then, Alexei was so inflamed, so focused, he probably wouldn’t notice, would he? No longer able to hold himself back, Vasili pressed against the wall and leaned over just enough to peer inside to see Alexei standing over Roe’qua. He could see the Twin’s pale white hand appear from beneath his cloak and reach up to remove his mask. Black slime dripped down scaly white flesh, pooling at the crook of his neck, but before Vasili could see any more, Alexei shifted his stance, blocking Vasili’s view.

“Dammit,” Vasili breathed. He watched as the three of them spoke in soft, croaking whispers, an unintelligible conversation that sounded like a confession.

“You did what?!” Alexei screamed.

Vasili flinched, almost losing his footing, his stomach twisting into knots, as if Alexei’s anger was radiating out, affecting the world around him.

Ke’ta stepped into view, holding his pale hands up, pleading. “Please. He act on instinct! You see what happened. No choice. Poison work fast, nothing we could do.”

Vasili watched as Alexei silently aimed the pistol at Roe’qua’s head and fired. The gunshot echoed through the grotto as the Twin limply splashed into the water. Quickly turning away, Vasili stuffed his hands into his pockets and stared at the ground. Alexei walked through the opening moments later, wiping a thin layer of sweat from his brow with the back of one hand, while casually handing Vasili the warm gun with the other.

“Let’s go,” the old man said, his eyes bloodshot, his face lined with hair thin cracks that visibly healed as he marched off. “We’re done here.”

Vasili followed after, hesitating momentarily to glance back into the grotto. Tenderly cradling Roe’qua’s lifeless body, Ke’ta solemnly replaced his brother’s mask before carrying him out into the cave’s deeper, blacker waters. A small pit had formed inside Vasili’s stomach, growing deeper with each passing second. It wasn’t the fact that Vasili had just seen Alexei kill one of the Twins; it was that they were answering to him as if he was their
master
. Nothing Vasili had seen up until then would have ever led him to believe that the Twins were beholden to Alexei, something he found extremely unsettling, though he couldn’t pinpoint why.

“Take me back to town,” Alexei said to Vasili as he caught up to the old man. “I need to find something.”

Vasili cleared his throat. Alexei’s cold heart didn’t surprise him, but it didn’t comfort him either. “Do you still want to meet with Dumont?” Vasili asked hesitantly.

Alexei paused for a moment and sighed, massaging his eyes in frustration.

“Jethro Dumont is dead.”

C
HAPTER 7

SECRET ALLIANCES

“He’s dead, Tulku,” Dorje said, placing a sympathetic hand on Tsarong’s shoulder.

Tsarong brushed away the fat lama’s hand as he walked deeper into the snow-covered expanse. It had been nearly five days since he had sent Dumont into the frozen wilderness. Five days of constant vigilance, prayer, and waiting. The other monks had given up on the American three days ago, believing him lost to the ice and mountains—but despite the protests of his students, Tsarong refused to lose faith, sitting by the entrance of the Temple of the Clouds from sunrise to sunset. On the fifth day, Tsarong finally stood, opened the great and massive doors, and stepped out onto the mountains. Dorje alone had followed, if for no other reason than to try and bring his ancient master in from the cold. They had been marching through the frozen land for several hours now, finding nothing more than rocks and snow, but Tsarong kept moving, kept searching.

“Do you remember, Dorje, when I went out into the frost for ten days?”

“Yes, but Tulku, even if the Jade Tablet has chosen the American, he does not have your skill—your training. He has only been with us a few short months. You cannot expect him to survive such conditions!”

“If I did not expect it, Dorje, I would have not sent him out.”

“Even you have said the prophecy was vague, open to interpretation. How can we be sure we understood it? That we understood its true meaning? Maybe he was brought to us to remove the Tablet from human hands. By dying—by taking the Tablet from us—he has brought balance to Dharma once again.”

Tsarong waved this away. “Were that even a consideration, do you not think I would have done so myself when the Tablet was mine?”

Dorje swallowed his protest.

“There is a cave not too far from here,” Tsarong said, indicating a small black speck several yards away. “He might have sought shelter there.”

“
Om! Lama kyeno!
” Dorje sighed three times before following after his master.

It was nearly an hour before they made it to the cave. Tsarong knocked away the loose snow from above the entrance with his walking stick, revealing the opening to be only large enough to fit a thin man crouching on his knees. He glanced back at Dorje. “I suppose you will have to wait outside,” he said with the slightest hint of a smile before crouching down and climbing inside.

There was little light to be found, though the air was noticeably warmer than outside. Lifting his hand above his head, Tsarong discovered the roof of the cave rose quickly and was able to stand after only a few steps. He reached into his furs, bringing out the small cigarette lighter he had found amongst Dumont’s personal effects, the letters
JPD
engraved on one side. Clumsily lighting the flint he was able to make out scant details around him. There were bones scattered around the ground, most were of local fauna, but some Tsarong recognized as distinctly human. He continued to move deeper until he came upon a snow leopard and her two cubs. Blood coated their muzzles, their eyes staring intently at Tsarong’s minimal frame.

“
Om! Tare Tuttare Ture Soha!
” Tsarong whispered. “Please, no!”

“You have nothing to fear, Tulku,” Jethro Dumont said as he stepped into the light. Dumont was bare chested, unaffected by the cold. “The old girl won’t hurt you. Sorry, I didn’t come back sooner, but her cubs were sick and I thought it best I stay behind and take care of them.”

“Are you injured?” Tsarong asked.

Dumont unconsciously touched the black bruise on his side. “Only a little. We had a misunderstanding before, but I’m fine now.”

“Come back with me to the Temple of the Clouds, we have been quite concerned.”

Dumont looked wistfully at the snow leopard. “
Tayata Om Muni Muni Maha Munaye Soha
,” he recited. “Yes. I suppose I should.”

“Dorje has some extra furs for you.”

“That was thoughtful. Thank you. But, Tulku…”

“Yes?”