False Horizon

by Alex Archer

  Maybe I have, Annja thought.

  “The universe is a quirky thing,” Vanya said. “It simply goes on oblivious to whatever our personal desires may be. The real way to impact the universe is not to wish and pray for good things to happen.”

  “A whole lot of people are going to be pretty disappointed in that statement,” Annja said with a grin.

  “If you want to change the universe, then you must set things in motion starting at the most basic level. Waiting and then trying to change what already began years or centuries before will not be enough to impact the course of the future. By that point, it is already too late.”

  “But how do you know when to start?”

  Vanya smiled. “We are always at the starting point of something, somewhere. The real trick is knowing where you are at any given moment. Find out the answer to that, and then you will become truly unstoppable.”

  “Have you figured it out yet?”

  “Me?” Vanya laughed. “Oh, no. I imagine that will take me many more lifetimes to understand. Perhaps then I will escape the wheel. Until such time, I will be back to learn more and continue to evolve.”

  “You don’t seem disappointed.”

  “Why be disappointed? Time is a function of humanity. The rest of the universe doesn’t seem to care how long something takes or whether things are on schedule or not. It simply continues, regardless. So, too, will my personal evolution. When it is time for me to move on, I shall.”

  Annja smiled. “Thanks for your help.”

  “It is my pleasure. Thank you for bringing my son home.”

  “My pleasure.”

  Vanya drifted away, leaving Annja to ponder a lot more than what she’d started with.

  22

  Tuk walked with his father, Guge, toward the royal pavilion hours after the last of the partygoers had wandered off to sleep. He couldn’t stop thinking about the phone call from Garin earlier and what ramifications it might have for his kingdom. But Garin had specifically asked Tuk to find out how to cross over to this land. And Tuk knew his only chance at getting that information was from his father.

  “You’re enjoying yourself, my son?”

  Tuk smiled. “What’s not to enjoy? For my entire life I’ve always wondered who I was and what I was supposed to do. I thought I’d found my life’s work and then that vanished. I was despondent. Unsure of where I was supposed to go. And then this happened and everything seems so utterly perfect.”

  Guge smiled. “Your mother is beside herself with joy. She blamed herself for many years after your disappearance. She was inconsolable in some respects. Guilt is a terrible burden to handle, but especially so where it concerns a child.”

  “I would imagine,” Tuk said. “But I don’t hold either of you responsible. How could you have known that your kindness would be repaid with betrayal.”

  “That’s the thing that one can almost never guard against,” Guge said. “Betrayal.”

  “But surely you can look out for such things. If a person’s actions are suspect, then you can remain on alert for their traitorous ways to emerge.”

  Guge nodded and then fell silent for a time. Finally, he looked at Tuk. “You wish to ask me a question.”

  “I do.”

  “Then why haven’t you yet?”

  Tuk smiled. “How is it that we came to be in this place? We examined the cave as much as we knew how. And yet, here we are.”

  Guge smiled. “You want to know how you crossed over.”

  “Yes.”

  “It’s quite simple, actually. Would you like to see it?”

  Tuk looked at him. “Right at this moment?”

  “Certainly. Why not?”

  Tuk shrugged. “I thought there might be something complicated about it, something that would require more preparation time.”

  “Not at all.” Guge pointed toward the temple ahead of them that was connected to the royal quarters. Like the pavilion and court, it was constructed out of stone and seemed to be part of the mountain itself. Intricate carvings bordered every doorway and window.

  Tuk was amazed at the workmanship. “How long has this been here?”

  “Hundreds of years.” Guge pointed inside a darkened corridor. “Come with me and you will learn the secrets of our kingdom.”

  Tuk fell into step behind his father. Guge traveled over the polished stone-floored corridors without a sound, seeming to almost levitate as he walked. Guge’s cough had also ceased, which made Tuk feel better about his father’s health. He’d secretly wondered if the coughing might be a sign that his father’s life was nearing its end.

  They walked past giant stone gods squatting in amazing detail with their hands knotted into intricate mudra for calling down favor from the universe. Spectacular colored wall reliefs showed ancient battles between the good and evil forces.

  “I come here a lot to be alone with my thoughts,” Guge said. “It is a place of contemplation for me as I imagine it will be for you also.”

  “I’d like that,” Tuk said. “I have often thought my life could use a lot more meditation than action.”

  “Some people don’t like to think,” Guge said. “If they are not solely preoccupied with action, then they have time to realize the truly infantile aspects of their essence. A brain in constant need of action is no better than a fool’s mind. Only the truly wise and intelligent may devote themselves to inaction from time to time without fear or prejudice.”

  Tuk saw that there were lit torches ahead, casting light into the darkened gloom of the temple. The flames danced and bit at the night air, throwing shadows across the walls and paintings with reckless abandon.

  “How much farther is it?”

  Guge shrugged. “Not very. Are you in a hurry, my son?”

  “Not at all. I am tired, however. I fear that I might collapse from exhaustion soon from all the dancing earlier.”

  “Your people have missed you. And there was quite some concern as to who would assume the throne when your mother and I pass on. Some of our people suggested that it was time for a new ruler to assume command. But your mother insisted we wait a little longer before making a decision. She is very wise.”

  Tuk smiled. “Maybe she knew I was coming home.”

  “Perhaps she did.”

  Guge led them down yet another corridor and the air grew cooler. Tuk shivered slightly and Guge noticed. “Yes, this is much deeper into the mountain now. And you can feel the temperature shift, can’t you?”

  “Yes, it’s much cooler.”

  Guge nodded. “So, you see that we are part of the same mountain. But our position makes all the difference.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “It just is.”

  Tuk frowned. “Forgive me father, but that’s not much of an explanation.”

  Guge turned around and, for a moment, Tuk thought his father was angered. But the expression faded then and Guge merely smiled. “Do not allow yourself to get caught up in the need to have everything explained to you so completely. Doing so robs the world of its magic.”

  “I understand, Father. I merely thought that there would be an explanation that made more sense. You know, from a scientific perspective.”

  “Science cannot explain everything, my son. And science should not try to explain everything. For then it becomes a crutch and imagination departs the soul.” Guge shook his head. “It would be truly tragic for the human race if that were to happen.”

  “All right.”

  They walked down a flight of stairs and then entered a long hallway leading toward another portal. A lone torch flickered on the wall ahead, but Tuk could not see beyond into the absolute darkness of the portal.

  Guge stopped. “This is the way you came across.”

  “Through there?”

  Guge nodded. “It leads to a path that will take you back to the arctic side of the mountain.” He glanced at Tuk’s clothes. “Perhaps now is not the time to try it out and see. You seem a bit underdresse
d.”

  Tuk smiled. “I’d just like to take a look.”

  Guge shook his head. “I don’t recommend it, my son. There is little to see over there that you have not already seen. Why go through again? Are you merely attempting to satisfy your own curiosity?”

  “I suppose I am.”

  Guge sighed. “I am old, my son. This is nothing of consequence. You should be content to know that it exists and that there is a way to get from our kingdom back to the real world. But I don’t think you will be needing it. Unless you don’t intend to stay?”

  Tuk shook his head. “I’m not leaving.”

  Guge smiled. “Excellent. Then perhaps we can satisfy your curiosity another time? I am getting tired myself.”

  Tuk smiled. “Perhaps I could take one quick little peek across? That wouldn’t be so bad, would it?”

  “You won’t stop badgering an old man unless he lets you go, will you?”

  Tuk smiled. “Probably not.”

  Guge sighed again. “Very well. Go ahead. But I am not coming with you. That cold air makes my old bones hurt. And there’s nothing there that I haven’t seen before now. If you want to go, you go by yourself.”

  “Are you sure you won’t come along?”

  “Completely.”

  Tuk paused and looked down the hallway at the portal. The torch fire danced from the slight breeze that seemed to snake through the hallway. Tuk caught a touch of the chill across his neck and shivered involuntarily.

  For a moment, he seriously considered going off to bed and doing this later. But then he shook his head and started forward toward the doorway.

  He paused and looked back. “Can I bring the torch?”

  “Are you afraid of the dark?”

  “Not at all,” Tuk said. “I’m afraid of what I can’t see. I don’t want to step over the edge of something that would send me hurtling toward my death.”

  “I don’t believe you will.”

  “And yet…?”

  Guge took a deep breath and blew it out slowly. “Oh, very well, take the torch along. But be ready for it to go out the moment you cross over. The winds are strong. And there may be a lot of snow.”

  “I’ll be ready.”

  “And make sure you pay very close attention to where you are,” Guge said. “If you don’t, you will never find the way back to us and you will perish in the cold over there. Your mother would never let me hear the end of it.”

  Tuk paused and a slight frown crossed his face. That almost seemed an odd thing for his father to say. But Tuk shook his head and then grabbed the torch from the wall bracket.

  He looked back toward his father. “All right. I’m going to go through the doorway now.”

  “Good luck.”

  “Thank you.

  Tuk turned back to the blackened doorway and held the torch aloft. But for some strange reason, the torchlight could not penetrate the interior of the doorway.

  Tuk held the torch up and ran it all along the perimeter of the door, but there was nothing that he could see inside.

  “You will not be able to see until you actually cross the threshold,” Guge said from behind him.

  Tuk looked back. “Why is that?”

  “It is that way simply because it is that way.”

  Tuk nodded. Another strange answer from his father. Very well, he thought. If there’s only one way to do this, then he would simply do it. Perhaps then he would know what to tell Garin when he called again.

  Guge’s voice was behind him then. Very close. “I nearly forgot to ask you something.”

  Tuk turned around. “What is it?”

  “You received a phone call earlier this evening. Didn’t you?”

  Tuk felt his face redden. “I did. I forgot that I had the telephone with me.”

  Guge pointed at the doorway. “You cannot go through with the telephone from this side.”

  “Why not?”

  “As far as I understand it,” Guge said. “The technology is too advanced to be transported back.”

  Tuk frowned. “But I came through with it from the other side and it seems to work just fine.”

  Guge shrugged. “I will hold on to the phone for you while you go through. That way, you can be sure it will work.”

  Tuk took the phone out and hefted it in his hand. “All right. I’ll just take a quick peek and then come back.”

  Guge nodded. “Good. I hope you will satisfy your curiosity once and for all. Then we can move on to other things.”

  Tuk smiled. “We have a lot to talk about, I assume.”

  “A great deal indeed.”

  Tuk turned back to the doorway. “All right, I’m going through.” He held the torch high above his head and then stepped closer to the doorway. He still felt Guge behind him, though, and turned back around. “Aren’t you too close?”

  Guge smiled. “I just wanted to make sure you are certain of this.”

  “I am, Father.”

  Tuk turned around. Before him, the gaping maw of the darkened doorway stood.

  Tuk took a deep breath and then started to step through the doorway.

  The phone rang.

  He stopped.

  Then felt a heavy push from behind, and before he knew what was happening, Tuk went sprawling through the doorway and into the darkness beyond.

  23

  Annja tossed and turned on the bed of silky soft pillows and tried to get comfortable. From her quarters, an open window looked down upon the pavilion. Tropical breezes swept through the curtains and across her skin. The temperature was absolutely perfect for sleeping.

  And yet, she couldn’t.

  The idea that Garin was somehow involved in this whole mess had her confused. Why exactly had he hired Tuk to watch over her? Since when did Annja need a guardian angel, anyway? She had her sword. And the sword could handle anything that she’d ever come up against.

  Although, she thought, she hadn’t had much occasion to use the blade on this outing. Something told her that if Hsu Xiao was really coming here, then that would soon be rectified.

  Annja wondered how Mike was doing. After he’d stormed off, she’d tried to find him but he seemed intent on avoiding any contact. Annja decided that he needed some alone time and had gone to bed to try to get some rest. She would have thought that would be an easy task given how much the strain of the past day had worn on her. But after nearly an hour of tossing and turning, even she had to admit that something wasn’t letting her sleep.

  She sat on the stone window ledge and peered out across the land. The winds swept through the trees, rustling leaves. She could see the tall grasses sway. And all about this place, everything seemed perfectly still. Perfectly…perfect.

  Annja frowned. It wasn’t that she didn’t believe in an absolute peace. It was just that she had never seen anything that even approached the tranquility of this land. It was an oddity to her.

  How is this even possible? she wondered. Where are we…exactly?

  The idea that Shangri-La existed on the other side of Dhaulagiri Mountain didn’t sit right with Annja’s analytical mind. Some part of her rejected that outright, saying that it would be impossible for such a place to exist and stay hidden from the technological eye of modern man.

  Despite what Vanya and Guge might want her to believe, Annja couldn’t buy into it.

  Still, if they were in some sort of magical location, then what was it? How did it operate? Annja wasn’t naive enough to think that just because something may or may not be magical, there weren’t rules that it would have to abide by, as well. She’d seen enough crazy stuff in her life to know that all things in the universe—even those that were presently unexplainable—still had a rule book they had to follow.

  So how did Shangri-La function?

  She dressed quickly and walked down the stairs back toward the pavilion. The amazing thing about this place was there seemed to be very few individual homes anywhere. And everyone seemed to disappear to sleep at the same time. Earl
ier this evening, right after the party had disbanded, people simply vanished. Annja wrote it off as everyone going off to bed, but now it triggered an alarm bell inside her gut.

  Her footfalls were silent on the courtyard stonework. Annja moved across the open pavilion and stole back down the grand staircase toward the fields below. As she walked, she kept her senses alert for any movement that might alert her she was not alone.

  But as far as she could tell, she was just that. Alone.

  This is weird, she thought. Where is everyone?

  Even Tuk seemed to have vanished earlier. Annja had last seen him walking with Guge. Presumably, Tuk was going to get his father to tell him how to cross over so that Garin could find them.

  Annja frowned. She wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. The times she’d been around Garin in the past had usually amounted to a lot of tension between them and then a differing agenda that left Annja on the losing end of things.

  But then again, Garin had seemed sincere about wanting to keep Annja safe. But from what? The Chinese assassin? Was Annja truly in the crosshairs? And, if so, how did the Chinese know she would be coming over here? Couldn’t they have taken her out when she was back in Brooklyn?

  Too many things just didn’t make sense. Her mind and spirit were at odds and the resulting battle had one casualty— Annja’s sleep.

  She crossed into the open fields and started walking toward the groves of fruit trees farther ahead. She could smell their scent as she approached. Their branches looked strong and supple. Annja reached up and twisted a peach from one of the branches and held on to it as she continued toward the edge of the field.

  Overhead, the stars winked at her and, somewhere far above, clouds wove strange patterns across the night sky. The effect was incredibly peaceful.

  Annja bit into the peach, aware of how incredibly juicy it was. She ate it quickly and then tossed the pit onto the ground.

  Annja looked around in every direction and saw nothing that would lead her to believe this place was inhabited. No lights, no noise, no nothing.

  Everyone seemed to have disappeared.

  Except for her.