‘Feel better now?’
‘Yep. Come on, get moving. They’ll be here soon.’ He looked up at the helicopter, which had pulled away to keep watch from a distance.
‘They can’t get across the bridge, though.’
Eddie turned back to the cleft. The post supporting the guide rope on this side was still solidly mounted in the rock. ‘They can still use this. Jayesh, don’t suppose you’ve got anything we can cut it with?’
The Gurkha glanced towards the chopper, where his kukri was still jammed in the window. ‘Used to.’
‘Arse chives. We’ll just have to hope it slows ’em down long enough for us to get back to the monastery.’ He recovered his breath, then followed Nina and Jayesh down the line of platforms after the monks.
Axelos’s radio squawked. ‘Come in, come in,’ said Collins.
The Greek and his men had just descended the ladder. He halted, the mercenaries following suit. ‘Did you stop them?’
‘No — and they, ah, took out the bridge.’
The American’s hesitancy made Axelos suspect that he was not telling the whole truth, but there were more important concerns. ‘Will we still be able to follow them?’
‘There’s a rope across the gap, so maybe. I wouldn’t want to risk it myself, though.’
‘That’s very helpful,’ said Axelos, annoyed. ‘Do they still have the other Crucible?’
‘Yeah. The woman’s carrying it.’
‘Then keep tracking them. We’ll try to catch up.’
He waved the other men on. Before long, they arrived at a rocky ledge before a deep cleft in the mountainside and he saw what the pilot had meant. The two halves of what had been a rope bridge hung limply down into the gap. All that remained intact was a single line spanning the void, and the post holding it at this end was damaged. He peered at its counterpart on the far side. It looked intact. ‘Keep hold of this,’ he told the Nepalis, indicating the crooked support. ‘I’m going to climb across. If I make it, follow me.’
‘What if you fall?’ asked one of the twins. He did not seem concerned by the prospect.
‘Then you can go back and keep all the gold in the cave for yourself. If you can dig it out. And if you can get down from this mountain once you have it. And if the monks don’t warn the government what happened here.’ He gave the Nepali a stern look. ‘So it’s best for everyone that we stay together and get the other Crucible before they do.’
The brothers exchanged glances, then moved to secure the pole. Axelos started his crossing.
15
The end of the long run of platforms was in sight, to Eddie’s great relief. The first monks had almost reached the ledge with the little hollow containing wood and ropes. After that, there was only the last stretch of the plank walkway before the monastery.
He looked back. No sign of their pursuers, but he doubted the bridge’s destruction would slow them much. The helicopter was still a constant presence, flying languid circles over the valley. If the mercenaries had been unable to cross the chasm, he was sure it would have been summoned to collect Axelos—
‘Speak of the devil,’ he growled as a figure came into view around the mountain’s edge. ‘We need to go faster!’
Amaanat reached the ledge. ‘They are still a long way behind us.’
‘Yeah, but a bullet’ll catch up pretty quick,’ Nina pointed out as she stepped gratefully on to solid ground behind him.
Jayesh and finally Eddie arrived on the ledge. ‘Get around this corner,’ the Englishman said, ushering everyone onwards into cover. ‘They’ll have a clear shot at us while we’re on that last lot of planks to the tower, though.’
‘You’re right,’ said Nina, remembering how the route followed the great curving wall of the natural amphitheatre. ‘What do we do?’
Eddie spotted the repair supplies. ‘We’ll move a lot faster on the ground. Get the ropes — we’ll climb down the cliff and run up the hill to the monastery.’
Amaanat called back the other monks as he reached the little nook. ‘I do not know if the ropes will be long enough.’
‘There isn’t anything to fasten them to either,’ said Nina.
‘We’ll tie them together, then wedge those planks inside the cave and fix the rope to ’em,’ Eddie told them. ‘And if it doesn’t reach the ground, we’ll jump the last bit. Snow looks pretty thick down there.’
Nina peered over the edge. ‘You do know that falling off a real cliff into real snow won’t be like in Frozen, right?’
‘Aw, let it go.’ He grinned, then started to haul out the hollow’s contents.
With everyone working together, it took only a short time to knot the ropes and secure them to the planks. Eddie examined the piecemeal line. ‘How long is it?’
‘About twenty metres,’ Jayesh replied.
The Yorkshireman made a concerned sound. ‘That’s never a good noise,’ said Nina as he went back to the drop. ‘How high’s this cliff?’
‘More than that.’ Twenty metres was about sixty-five feet; he estimated the ground to be over eighty feet below. ‘I’ll check it’s survivable.’
‘How?’
‘By seeing if I survive!’
‘Not funny.’
‘I wouldn’t go down there if I didn’t think it was doable. Here, give me that.’ He took the Crucible from her and unwrapped its top, fastening the end of the rope in a loose knot around its wire handle. Then he held the line over the edge and quickly lowered it. Once the rope had reached its full length, he took a firmer hold of it. ‘We’ll make it,’ he assured Nina. ‘We’ve got to.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ she said nervously.
‘See you at the bottom.’
Without a harness or the time to wrap the rope around his body to abseil, he was forced to descend in the crudest possible way, relying on raw muscle to take his weight as he walked himself downwards. Ten feet, twenty, without difficulty, the knots acting as handholds. Thirty feet, half the rope’s length. He looked down, and got his first clear view of the gap between the end of the line and the snow beneath it. It was more than twenty feet — and the drift itself was probably a few feet deep. Even if he hung from the very end of the rope, he would still have to fall about sixteen feet. The snow would cushion the landing to some degree, but if there were any rocks buried beneath it, the impact could be fatal.
No choice now. He kept descending, muscles starting to ache. Fifty feet, sixty, and he was at the end of the rope. The Crucible hung below him. He awkwardly reached down and tugged at the knot. It popped loose with only a little effort. Snagging the handle with his fingers, he swung the sphere outwards before releasing it. It landed in a snowdrift with a soft whumph.
It had survived; would he? Eddie looked up, seeing faces peering over the ledge. He managed a brief wave to Nina, then lowered himself to grip the rope’s frayed end. The snow along the cliff’s base undulated ominously, suggesting fallen rocks beneath the pristine surface. He would have to jump clear to land farther out, and hope no boulders had rolled down the slope.
He leaned back, bending his legs… and threw himself outwards.
A moment of freefalling fear, not knowing what was hidden below—
Eddie hit the snow with a thump, pain jarring his back as the drift compressed beneath him. He lay still for a moment. The sensation faded. Nothing was broken. He sat up, pushing a hand down through the flattened snow to find hard rock only a few inches beneath him. It had been deep enough to absorb his landing — just.
He stood. ‘I’m okay!’ he yelled. ‘Come down!’