As the truck continued east, the sky turned from a deep blue with cotton clouds, to overcast. Then it turned black. The clouds opened up and dumped rain on them. The rain soaked and poured into every crevice, down their necks, soaking their clothes under their jackets. They sat in a couple of inches of water, which filled the flatbed of the truck, turning it into a dirty pond. Although they picked up their packs and held them on their laps, Ty had the feeling that every last item in the pack would have to be wrung out.
When they arrived in Bumthang, Ty was chilled and shivering. Their room in Kaila Lodge was entirely wood-paneled, with a metal stove and two low wooden single beds, covered with brightly covered spreads that reminded Ty of Mexican blankets. He tried to fall asleep but shivered through the night, listening to the sounds of the group, laughing and drinking aro, the local rice wine. When he woke the next morning he had a full-blown cold and his nose ran continuously.
Decki urged them to hurry through breakfast, telling them the “vomit comet” would be coming soon. Ty didn’t dare ask any questions about the name and sat, barely touching his food.
The vomit comet was considerably less comfortable than the vans they had started in, but it was adequate to get them through the next leg of the journey, to Mongar. The trip was maddeningly slow as the “comet” wound its way through the mountains. There were no guard rails, just occasional sets of four or five rectangular stones to prevent runaway cars from careening over the edge.
During the seven hour trip to Mongar Ty became aware that he had more than an ordinary cold. The continuous mist and drizzle started him shivering anew. Each time they approached one of the several mountain passes, Ty’s sinuses would ache. He had long since run out of tissues and was using the roll of toilet paper from his backpack to blow his nose. The last few hours of the ride he had a pounding headache and although he didn’t have a thermometer he was sure he had a fever. He had barely eaten that day and his upset stomach made him think he might contribute to the vehicle’s reputation as the vomit comet. Vincent kept shooting anxious looks at him.
When they arrived at the tiny Shongar Lodge, Ty barely noticed his surroundings and went straight to bed without eating. The next morning he took a handful of ibuprofen tablets out of the medical kit they were carrying, determined not to let his father know how sick he was. He took two of them before joining the others for breakfast and put the others in his pocket so he could surreptitiously take more as they wore off.
When he joined the others they were in a deep discussion about the lack of transportation. They were in Eastern Bhutan, the most uninhabited area of the country and they were at the end of the road, in a manner of speaking. As they ate, the electricity failed twice. Decki’s face portrayed a hopeless attitude but he left the group, promising to see what he could do about moving them on to Trashigang.
For hours the two little vans chugged along, clinging to the winding paths that were carved into the sides of mountains. When looking across the valley to an opposing mountain, the roads on the other side looked like thin, curving, tan lines carved into the greenery. As the day wore on, Ty became more and more uncomfortable. He was crushed between Rishi and Therese, but he leaned more toward Therese as Rishi made it clear he didn’t want Ty’s germs anywhere near him.
When his ibuprofen wore off he took more but by the time they approached Trashigang it was clear that even with the antipyretic medicine, Ty had a high fever. Without it, Ty was sure he would be dizzy and unable to function. Decki whispered to him that there was a hospital in Trashigang, but Ty brushed him off, reassuring him that he was fine and only had a little cold. They crossed a river, over the Chazam bridge, where there was a checkpoint that monitored the traffic to and from the town.
In Trashigang they noted that as they traveled further and further east the hotels became progressively simpler, supplying only the basic needs. Their hotel only supplied hot water on request and it was given to the travelers in a bucket. And each time Vincent wanted to consult some of his papers the lights would flicker and the electricity service would be interrupted.
The team hung around the hotel except for Richard who wandered off to explore. Ty, meanwhile was struggling with his sickness, which he had self-diagnosed as being a sinus infection. He lazed around his hotel room, convincing himself that one more day of rest would cure him. For a while he would feel fine and think maybe he was getting better but every five and a half hours after taking ibuprofen, his headache, pain and fever would return. That night at dinner Decki showed up, shrugging his shoulders and showing his empty hands. He had no luck that day.
As they ate momos filled with ground yak meat and a delicious, spicy chicken stew, called jasha maroo, they all diverted their worries from Ty’s condition to Richard’s whereabouts. He had not been seen since shortly after lunchtime. As they ate they became increasingly concerned, until Vincent stood up and pushed his half-eaten plate away.
“I’m going to look for him,” he announced.
Ty looked at Oliver and saw that his own worry about the two men was mirrored in Oliver’s eyes.
Decki quickly rose too, saying, “I am responsible if he got lost. I should have...”
“Nonsense, you were out looking for rides for us,” Vincent interrupted.
“But I will come help find him.”
Tullio added, “I’m coming along too.”
They returned within thirty minutes with Richard. The professors and Decki should have been jubilant but their faces were grim as they sat down.
“I’m not hungry, but I can use a drink,” Richard said, sullenly.
“What happened?” Preston asked, pushing a glass of aro toward him.
Tullio and Vincent exchanged glances and it was apparent Richard had told them already.
“I was accosted.” He gulped his drink. Silence fell over the group as they waited for Richard to continue.
“On my way back through town two men jumped out from around a building, grabbed me and pulled me into their car.”
“Two men,” Oliver said, looking into Ty’s eyes. “Bhutanese men?”
“No. They had some sort of European accent. They wanted to know exactly where we were going. They wanted our map.” He took another long swallow. “…badly.”
“Why’d they think you had the map? Why would you be bringing it while you were out for a stroll? It doesn't sound right,” Rishi ventured.
“If you think about it we’ve been traveling as a group since we arrived in Bhutan--or at the most, two groups. They probably watched and waited to get one of us alone,” Vincent said.
“I agree with Rishi,” Tullio said. “It does not make sense.”
“Yes, how did they follow us all the way here?” Preston queried.
“I'm sure they weren't behind us all the way,” Vincent said.
Richard barely followed the conversation, seemingly more interested in keeping his glass filled.
“And when they followed us from town to town, where did they stay? I can’t say these towns are big enough to get lost in,” Cheryl said.
“Or that there are plenty of hotels in them,” Oliver added. “Hey, maybe they're staying here too.”
“Well somehow they followed us here.” There was an unfamiliar edge to Richard’s voice.
“Relax, Richard. It’s over,” Vincent said.
“What did you tell them about the map?” Preston asked.
“Nothing, of course. I told them we didn’t have a map…that we were just going to Eastern Bhutan to look around. I told them we were looking for evidence that a particular knight had been here, corroborating the article written by Mansfield.”
Preston leaned forward with an intense look. “Do you think they bought that?”
Richard shrugged. “They let me go. At first they threatened to kill me…in an extremely unpleasant way…if I didn’t bring them the map.”
“Kill you!” Therese said, horrified.
Ty remembered how badly this same man had wanted to kill him and knew the attacker would have taken delight in the murder.
“Well then they seemed to be satisfied that we were on an exploratory mission.”
“Why would we have so many people along if we were just exploring,” Oliver mused.
“Maybe they’re not too bright.”
“Yes, not too bright--stonato,” Tullio said.
“Richard, did they hurt you?” Therese asked, her brow furrowed with concern.
Richard exhibited his first small smile of the evening. “Not too badly.” He waved his arms around. “No broken bones.”
“That settles it. We all stick together from now on. Nobody goes wandering off alone, okay?” Vincent asked.
Everybody nodded in agreement.
The next morning, a smiling Decki appeared in front of the hotel leading a group of men with horses. Two of the men would be accompanying them to care for the horses. After Ty choked down some butter tea he mounted his horse. Although it was much warmer in this part of the country, dampness permeated everything. The mountains poked up through the mist in the valleys, creating an ethereal, otherworldly look this morning.
Tenzin and Karma, the two men who handled the horses, were dressed very differently from the traditional Bhutanese way of dressing, wearing furry, yak-hide vests. The men topped off their outfits with strange looking hats made of yak felt with five strands hanging from around the brim, which were designed to keep the rain out of one’s face.
They held on to their horses as the animals struggled to find footing on the steep mountainsides. Ty felt so ill that he concentrated on not falling off his horse, ignoring the chattering of the group. He avoided riding near Vincent to hide the severity of his condition. Several times he realized others were talking to him and he had not heard them. The damp air seemed to make everything slightly wet. It was a gray day and when the weather turned to a light drizzle, it completed Ty’s misery.
In the late afternoon, they stopped at a rocky area of the mountain that formed an indentation, offering a bit of protection from the elements. There were pictures of local deities painted on the rock wall. The twenty-foot faces had high arched eyebrows, topping sinister eyes. The faces were smiling but had a scary tone. Decki seemed unconcerned, declaring it a good place to camp for the night because the deities could scare away any evil.
Decki took his dish and sat next to Ty. “You know an infection can be very serious,” he said quietly, almost in Ty’s ear. “Especially an infection in your head, your teeth or sinus. They are close to your brain. It is a simple matter for the infection to travel to your brain and kill you.”
Rishi was sitting close enough to overhear the exchange. “Sometimes, if an infection gets too severe, your organs, your liver or kidneys can shut down. You go into a coma, then you die.”
Ty nodded. “Maybe I am sicker than I thought. But it is too late. Where can I find a doctor now?” he whispered.
“We can go back to Trashigang to the hospital.”
Ty shook his head. “I can’t do that to my father. He’s so close to what he’s been looking for all his life.”
“I think you are more important to him than whatever he is looking for.”
Ty took a second, wondering if his father really would choose him over the treasure. He dismissed the thought and shook his head again. “No. I have to keep going.” Then he reconsidered. “What kind of hospital is it? Do they practice western kind of medicine?”
“This far east…I would think they use a combination of western and traditional medicines.”
“Traditional?”
“They would discover which sort of spirit might have harmed you. Before you were sick we stopped on the road near a stream. A Lu, a water spirit might have taken offense to you. I should have warned you not to put your feet in the water.”
Decki said this with total seriousness and Ty tried hard to keep a look of disbelief off his face. “A spirit might have wanted to harm me?”
“Yes. There are mountain spirits. There are forest spirits.”
Ty stared at him, speechless. There was no question about going back to Trashigang. He might think about it to get antibiotics but he’d never go back to have evil spirits exorcised.
As the sun set, they sat around the fire and listened to Decki, Tenzin and Karma tell them stories about Bhutan.
The two local men told them they had to keep the fire burning all night because the area was loaded with wild boar, which were destroying crops all over Eastern Bhutan.
“They’re not dangerous, are they?” Therese asked in a whisper.
“Dangerous! Hah! Of course they are dangerous. They can kill a man,” Tenzin bellowed.
“Do not go far from the fire,” Karma warned.
Therese, sitting right next to Oliver, edged still closer to him until she tucked herself under his arm. Oliver squeezed her even closer.
The group looked to Decki for confirmation.
“I believe they are correct. The wild animals are quite ferocious,” Decki said. “And we must also beware of the Yeti.”
The others stared at their tour guide. Rishi snorted his disbelief. It took Ty all the restraint he could muster not to roll his eyes, thinking about the mythical large, hairy, half-man, half-monster--the Bigfoot of the Himalayas.
“Is that for real?” Richard said, not hiding his skepticism.
“Yes, it is quite real.” Tenzin and Karma nodded vigorously in agreement. “Sometimes the Yeti can be invisible but then…,” he lowered his voice. “He comes out at night.”
“He steals people away,” Karma said.
“I have heard of a woman who was stolen away and lived with a Yeti for two years,” Tenzin said.
“Maybe her boyfriend just looked like a Yeti,” Rishi said drily.
“No, no really. Bhutan even has an area set aside for the preservation of the Yeti’s habitat.”
Oliver laughed. “I feel like you’re telling us boogieman stories to scare us. Do you tell your kids that they had better behave or the Yeti will take them away?”
The three Bhutanese men merely laughed, unwilling to tell them more.
Ty listened to the conversation but his stomach felt sick and his head pounded. Ty could not force even a little rice into his stomach and was grateful Vincent was fixated on his goal and didn't notice.
Ty lay down on his sleeping bag as the conversation went on around him. He smiled when he became vaguely aware that Oliver and Therese risked the yeti to go for a walk to be alone together. After that he fell asleep, a nightmarish, broken sleep, alternating between a soaking sweat and chills. Every so often he’d almost wake up and see the scary, painted faces flickering in the firelight, looking down at him. Yeti and wild boars figured prominently in his dreams. He was relieved when he felt himself shaken awake in the morning, with Oliver’s concerned face staring into his eyes.
“Had a hard time waking you up, man.”
“I guess I was tired.”
Karma and Tenzin were preparing red rice and chilis for breakfast. Vincent was already packed and standing by his horse, ready to go. Ty sat on the ground with his head between his knees, dreading another day of riding. When he looked up, Vincent was staring at him.
He sees how sick I am, Ty thought.
Vincent’s eyes hardened and he turned away, not letting anything deter him from the pot of gold waiting for him at the end of their journey.
After a couple of hours they entered a flat clearing and milled around as Vincent got off his horse and conferred with Tenzin and Karma. They looked at the maps, talked for a few minutes and remounted their horses. After another hour they were back in the same clearing. They began again, along a winding trail that was little more than a ledge, cut into the side of a mountain. Ty looked up but could not see the top of the peak, hidden in fog. For a third time they entered the clearing.
Vincent looked worried. Ty could read the questions on the other professors’ faces, wondering if Vincent’s information was correct. Maybe these directions had all been a trick. What a long way to have gone for a wild goose chase. They all got off their horses, hungry and dispirited. They rested as Vincent began to go over the map again with Tenzin and Karma.
Nobody noticed when the intruders entered the clearing. The group became aware of them and all movement stopped. Decki appeared ready to offer them food or assistance, but he stopped short, noticing the menacing looks on the two intruders’ faces. The two identical men were hulking, and surly-looking. They had black hair but were pale-skinned, dressed in western clothes.
Several group members stood up and Vincent stepped forward. “What do you want?”
The men glared at them, intimidating the group. Finally, one of them spoke. “Maps. We want your maps.” He was huge, broad everywhere, and well over six feet tall.
Nobody moved or answered.
The man dismounted and approached the nearest person, who happened to be Ty. “Did you hear what I said?”
He made a move as if to grab Ty when Vincent yelled, “Noooo,” and ran toward him.
Then everyone moved at the same time. The man pulled a gun from his jeans waistband under his shirt.
Preston waved his arms. “No, you can’t,” he shouted.
Oliver rushed the gunman as Vincent yelled, “You can have the map. You can have whatever you want,” but it was too late.
The gunman started to shoot and his partner joined him. Some of the group fell to the ground for cover but others stood, staring, not comprehending. The Bhutanese could not even fathom that someone in their country possessed a gun and was shooting at them.
The first gunman picked up the papers Vincent had dropped and the two began to retreat, backing up, training their guns on the group members. “Don’t move,” they shouted.
Ty watched in horror as he heard a whistling sound and an arrow went through the first gunman’s wrist. His screeching reminded Ty of a cornered cat he had once seen, being torn apart by raccoons. Another arrow followed the first and pierced the second man’s calf. He fell to the ground and rolled as if his legs had been swept out from under him. Other arrows followed and a group of twenty archers, whooping and screaming, overran the clearing. They were broad and strong, all dressed in uniform black ghos. They waved their bows in the air and the eerie yelling struck cold fear in Ty’s heart.
A gray curtain started to obscure Ty's vision. He stumbled as his legs buckled under him. He turned around and saw Oliver lying on the ground, staring at him. He shook his head, trying to clear it, realizing he was losing consciousness, looking for his father. Just before he fell into unknowingness, he saw his father lying on the ground face down.