by Kevin Olson
Adaulfo calmed, his eyes widening. “I…I…” Kellen stammered, his eyes moving to the pistol at his neck. “I lost my serenity, Herr General Kannenberg. It will not happen again.”
“See it does not,” the General replied as he placed his pistol in its holster. “We are here on direct orders from the Führer. Your free manner opposes our precision. You may serve at our leisure, Herr Kellen! It may go well for you should we find the artifact,” General Kannenberg shrugged. “It may go ill for you if we feel dissatisfied.”
“Herr General,” Kellen ventured, “we must find this Green Lama and the boy. They may be the key we need!”
The general looked toward the mist. “Did no one see where he went?” The soldiers and Kellen all shrugged their agreement on the matter. “Go search the mountain,” he ordered three of the soldiers and Kellen. “The rest of you,” he indicated the four remaining, “come with me to the temple!”
Chapter Two
Between a Mystic
and a Predator
Ravikiran stayed close to his mother as they climbed the mountain. The mist started to thin, making it more difficult to stay hidden.
“Come, Ravikiran,” his mother said. “We must reach the summit.”
Ravi nodded. “Yes, mother.”
As they walked up the mountain, Ravi looked to his right. He gasped at seeing the Green Lama suddenly walking beside them. “I did not hear you following us, Green Lama,” he said. “You move silent as the silence of night.” Ravi’s mother looked to see Green Lama, but said nothing. “How did you retrieve your robe?”
The Green Lama smiled as he put a finger to his lips and nodded. “I move, yet do not disrupt,” he said softly. “Others follow you who imbalance nature about them.” He tilted his head and listened. The sound of a branch cracking drifted through the air. “See?”
Ravikiran looked about, his eyes wide. “Is that them? Perhaps a branch broke off a tree.”
The Green Lama shook his head. “Everything sounds exactly as it is. Did it not sound as a pursuer stepping on a branch?”
Looking at the ground, Ravi thought deeply. He returned his gaze to the Green Lama. “Yes!” he whispered harshly. “It did!”
Green Lama smiled. “You are wise beyond your time, young man, and learn quickly. Now, we must move swiftly.”
“Green Lama, you can destroy them,” Ravi said. “We have seen your power.”
The Lama shook his head. “My purpose is to preserve rather than destroy. These men may be in error, and perhaps we can show them the right path. Letting them discover life’s twofold path is much better than destroying theirs.”
Ravikiran nodded. “I think you are right, Green Lama.”
The Green Lama laughed. “You can call me Jagmohan.”
“Is that your name?” Ravikiran’s mother asked.
“It is not,” the Lama replied. “It is an appellation I chose.” He examined Ravikiran’s mother as they walked along. “I do not know your names,” he smiled. “I can decide on some for you if you prefer.”
Ravi’s mother smiled. “This is my son, Ravikiran. I call him Ravi.” Blush-ing, she looked at the ground. “I am Pari.”
The Green Lama stopped. He placed his gloved hand beneath her chin and gently pulled it up. “There is no need for shame. Pari means pretty, does it not? The universe swells with pride at the beauty it contains.” The Lama cleared his throat and continued walking, pointing up the slope. “We near the snowline. A small Lama’s retreat is not far.”
Within moments, white snow crunched beneath their feet. The icy peak they climbed toward offered a steeper slope. They approached the jagged rocks. “Can you climb?”
The mother and son nodded. “Good,” The Lama said. “I will follow.” Ravi went first, with Pari following. The Green Lama grasped a rock in his gloved hand and pulled himself after them.
The Green Lama stopped again and listened. Ravi listened, too. “I hear them, Jagmohan!”
The Green Lama nodded. “They are close now.” He looked up the jagged peak. “The ascent has many places to hide. They dare not fire their guns. It would start an avalanche.”
“Perhaps they will not follow,” Pari said. “They can fire at us as we climb.”
The Green Lama shook his head, his face grim. “They will follow. The mystic is driven by hubris. That may be his undoing and our salvation. Speak only when necessary now. The energy is for the climb alone in this thin air.”
The Green Lama followed the family, impressed at their deft ability to discover foot and handholds. “You seem to have climbed before,” he observed.
Pari nodded. “We have lived in the mountains’ shadow all our lives, and we must to survive. Save your words of praise.”
They climbed in silence until Green Lama said, “Our pursuers begin their ascent.” Pari stole a glance as did Ravi. They could see Kellen lead the soldiers with gusto. The soldiers, their guns slung over their backs, were more cautious.
Green Lama pointed toward a more difficult area to climb, following a long cliff. “That way,” he said. “Those soldiers will not be able to make it. They will have to turn back.”
Ravi instantly started the way Green Lama pointed. “It is child’s play, Jagmohan.”
Grasping a rock, the Lama shook his head. “No, Ravi. It is serious. Take caution and no chances.”
Below, a scream pealed through the air. The trio turned to look as a soldier lost his footing and fell over the precipice. The Green Lama shook his head. “Why did he not stay behind?”
Ravi continued upward, looking down the rock face to the river far below. “He did not control his passions, Jagmohan.”
Green Lama nodded as he climbed. “A lesson for us all to learn, yet I suspect his driving passion was fear of Kellen. We must all master our passions.” He stole a glance at Pari’s face, hidden by her collar.
Chapter Three
What Immortal Eye
Another noise met the party from below. Looking down, they saw one of the soldiers had twisted his leg into a shape broken and unnatural. They rested as they watched Kellen bend over the soldier and remove the man’s pistol from its holster. Callous to the condition, Kellen shot the man through the temple. Green Lama’s teeth ground together as he drew in a breath of cold mountain air.
“Come, Jagmohan,” Pari whispered. “There is nothing to be done now.”
His face still twisted in anger, Green Lama nodded. “Yes. Nothing to be done now.”
Ravi continued his climb, pulling himself over a ledge and out of sight of Pari and the Lama. He let out a sudden yelp of fear. Green Lama climbed past Pari. “Wait here!”
Green Lama pulled his body over the ledge to see a powerful leopard looking at Ravi, its fur spotted black and white.
Ravi stood very still as the snow leopard sniffed the air. It watched the Green Lama and the boy with anticipation, a low snarl escaping its clenched, knifelike teeth.
“Don’t move, Ravi,” Green Lama said softly as he stepped between the boy and the leopard. The creature’s green eyes seemed to glow in the thin mountain air. The Green Lama’s muscles tensed beneath his robe. His eyes locked with the leopard’s, as they moved in a circle, sizing each other up.
The leopard snarled lowly before hurling itself at the Lama. The Green Lama was prepared as he rushed between the massive claws and embraced the leopard by the chest. The combatants fell to the ground as both rolled to gain dominance. The leopard’s claws slashed the air, the pits of its arms pressing against the Green Lama’s shoulders and thus the powerful thrust diminished into the Lama’s muscles. Still, the claws managed to tear at the green robe and shred it. If the claws dug deeper, the Lama’s veins would be exposed to tearing and bleeding.
Green Lama stepped between the boy and the leopard.
The leopard found its jaws and thrust its head toward the Lama’s neck. The Lama pulled away, the beast’s hot breath warming his throat. The Green Lama brought his hands to the leopard’s neck and grasped it, attempting to deprive the creature of air.
The leopard rolled over and over with the Lama on the narrow ledge. It twisted its head from side-to-side as if attempting to break the neck of prey caught between its teeth. Green Lama pressed hard to ensure his neck did not end up between the ferocious jaws.
Ravi stood in a cleft gouged through the rock face. He watched with eyes wide, helpless to aid the Green Lama. “What can I do?” he asked.
The Green Lama shook his head as he rolled with the leopard toward the ledge as the beast struggled violently. “Care for yourself and your mother, Ravi.” The Green Lama and leopard rolled off the ledge and out of sight. “Jagmohan!” Ravi exclaimed as he rushed to the edge and lay on the rock, looking down. His mother joined him.
Their eyes beheld the Green Lama grasping onto a rock jutting from the cliff face with his right hand. Far beneath him, the distant, misted ground lay obscured. The ends of his red scarf wrapped his left glove tautly. The scarf’s material cradled the snow leopard about its belly as it dangled below the Lama. Suspended above a death-promising distance, the once-ferocious creature now slept like a kitten.
Ravi smiled nervously. “Jagmohan! You did not die!”
The Green Lama grimaced, sweat on his brow. He looked up to see the face of the young boy and his beautiful mother. He smiled and nodded lightly. “I am alive, Ravi. For the moment.”
Full of a motherly concern, a frown crossed Pari’s lips. “How can we help, Lama?”
The Green Lama looked at the beast cradled in his scarf. “I need to get the leopard to safety. She is calmed by the scarf, yet also a heavy weight on my shoulders.”
Ravi almost laughed, the situation being too grave for mirth. “The leopard!? What about you, Jagmohan?”
“If I do not have the strength to save others,” Green Lama said, “I am helpless as a child.”
Ravi bit his lip. “Yet the leopard tried to kill you!”
The Lama nodded. “Yes. She meant only to feed herself and her family.” He chuckled. “I cannot blame her for a desire so natural.”
“Can you not levitate?” Ravi asked. “I know Lamas often can.”
Green Lama shook his head. “I can. It takes much energy. If it did not, the Lamas would fly everywhere. My strength would wane, and I might not be able to help you and Pari. I cannot allow harm to come to you.”
“If you die,” Pari said, “harm is likely for Ravi and me. Saving the leopard may well doom us three.”
“Then you do understand my predicament,” the Lama replied, “yet there must be a way to save all four.”
“I do not see how,” Ravi returned. The Green Lama left the words unanswered as he closed his eyes and fell into meditation.
“Are you meditating?” Ravi asked. Pari responded with a harsh, whispered, “Shush!”
The Green Lama shook his head. “Not quite,” he replied to Ravi’s question. “I am praying.”
“What difference is there?” Ravi asked.
“Meditating is when you go inside yourself to find God waiting for you. It is calming to your spirit, yet I am calm. Praying is when you go to find God waiting outside of you, in everything.” He opened his eyes and smiled. “Faith can move mountains if only the size of a seed in the wind. I only ask for the strength to move a leopard. If I handed the scarf to you two, would you be able to pull it up?”
Ravi and Pari nodded. “It is not so heavy,” Pari said. “We have carried goats from the mountains.”
Sweat fell from Green Lama’s brow. “It is not so heavy, yet in catching it I broke the bone in my wrist. Your ability to lift her is not so outlandish as my ability to lift her with one broken arm.”
“We can climb down,” Ravi offered.
Green Lama shook his head. “Only the leopard and I are in danger right now. We need not complicate the matter by adding lives unnecessarily.”
Pari nodded gravely. The sinews pulled as the Lama started to lift the leopard. The scarf dug into his fingers as he lifted it over his shoulder. Ravi and his mother watched with bated breath. As soon as it was near, they clasped the end of the scarf.
The Green Lama freed his hand from the scarf. The hand fell with force to his side, drained of its strength. The sudden shift in weight caused the rock in his other hand to give way and break off. Green Lama dropped quietly into the mists.
Ravikiran’s eyes widened as he watched the Lama disappear into the mist. “NO!”
Pari placed her hands over her son’s shoulders. “He is gone,” she said, her voice breaking. “We must continue without him.”
Ravi looked at the snow leopard, still sleeping with the Lama’s scarf around its midsection. He shuddered and turned away to continue staring at the mist. Slowly yet inexorably, the Green Lama began to rise out of the mist. Like a balloon he wafted back and forth in the air, drifting on the breeze. Great strain showed on his face. His skin wrinkled as he concentrated.
“Jagmohan!” Ravi shouted. Green Lama shook his head. A sudden wind pushed him toward the mountain. With a heavy thud, he struck the cliff face. His black gloves found handholds some thirty feet below the ledge and held tightly.
The Green Lama breathed in deeply through his nose and exhaled. The lines in his face began to disappear as he stole a glance upward to see Pari and Ravi’s faces staring down at him.
Ravi clapped his hands together. “We are pleased to see you, Jagmohan!” he laughed.
Pari nodded and wiped a tear from her eye. “How will you get to the ledge?”
“He will levitate again!” Ravi said.
Green Lama shook his head. “No,” he replied. “It takes much energy, and only in an emergency or in quiet meditation does it make sense. We will need my energy to defeat the summit.”
Carefully searching the sheer rock face, Lama found the tiniest handhold above him and reached up to grasp it. His gloved fingertips found slight purchase, yet it proved enough. He pulled heavily and lifted himself a few inches, his feet resting against identically-thin outcroppings less than half-an-inch deep. He continued this painfully slow process with urgency in his face. He traversed the rock face with the celerity of a fly, and soon pulled himself onto the ledge. Pari and Ravi helped him as he seemed entirely exhausted. He fell onto the flat surface of the ledge next to the oblivious snow leopard. He began to shiver.
Pari laid her body on top of him, though he tried to push her away. She smiled at him. “You need warmth, Lama.”
Green Lama nodded and welcomed the proffered warmth. “What can I do, Jagmohan?” Ravi asked.
Green Lama smiled as he gently removed Pari. “You can thank your mother, as I do.” He looked into the woman’s eyes. “You have strengthened me. Now, we must go on.”
Ravi looked at the leopard. “What of the great cat? Will it stay asleep?”
Shaking his head, Green Lama pulled the scarf from beneath the creature. The snow leopard stood to its feet and looked at the Lama. The Lama stared into its eyes and nodded. “We have no more to fear from her.”
The great cat turned and leapt to the next ledge, righting itself as its back paws slipped on the snow. It turned to look at the three humans, inviting them to follow.
Ravi went ahead, followed by Pari and finally the Green Lama. The snow leopard blazed a trail for them to follow. Ravi followed cautiously, yet fearless of the great beast.
Green Lama looked behind to see Kellen ascending the steep slope far below them, a machine gun slung over his back. “It looks like he has lost his companions,” the Lama said. “He can move quickly alone.”
Kellen pulled out a luger pistol and fired. The Green Lama gritted
his teeth. “He is insane! He will bring an avalanche on all our heads!”
Kellen laughed loudly. “Indeed!” he shouted; dangerously in the delicate area. “I can hear you on the wind Lama! I can read your thoughts as well! YOU have the Jade Tablet, and I will it and the secrets of Soma to be mine!”
Green Lama shook his head and urged the others on. “We must get out of his range of sight and stay there!”
Ravi moved forward as fast as possible and as carefully as urgency allowed. “Is it true, Lama?” he asked. “Do you have what he seeks?”
Lama shook his head as he helped Pari climb ahead of him by lifting her feet in his gloves. “He is lost and knows not what he seeks. I do know where the Jade Tablet is, and how Soma is made. His finding it will not fulfill his search, or save your life or that of your mother. He is mad, and madness is not satiated.”
“What is Soma?” Ravi asked.
“It is an ancient potion that gives a man enhanced strength of body and mind,” the Lama explained with a shrug. “It could possibly be used as a serum to create super-soldiers. That is why the Nazis must not have it.”
Passing around a large boulder, the group moved around a corner and out of Kellen’s sight. Kellen retrieved the machine gun and fired it at the boulder. A rumbling began as the white of the mountain slid downward, angry at the disruption. They clung to the rock as snow and debris fell over them and turned everything white. Kellen’s mad, cacophonous laughter drowned in the deafening noise.
Chapter Four
Buddha’s Awful Silence
Snow drifted away from the empty space where the Green Lama stood with Pari and her son moments ago. Avalanche sounds continued to echo faintly through the Himalayan peaks. Triumphant, Kellen wedged the butt of the machine gun he carried between a pair of rocks and pulled himself onto the ledge.