Rogue Angel - The Spirit Banner Part 28

It was a map.

It had been painted on the floor and was partially obscured by years of dust and dirt, but it was clearly recognizable as such. With specific instructions from Annja, everyone got down on their hands and knees and gently brushed the loose debris off the painting, exposing it all for perhaps the first time in centuries. Once they were finished, they stood back to examine what they had uncovered.

Not the handiest thing to use in finding your way around, was Annja's first thought. Maps needed to be portable in order to be useful and this was anything but. Still, you didn't create a map of this size and then hide it away from the rest of the world if there wasn't a point to it. There was a reason it was here and she just had to discover what that was.

Like many ancient maps, this one was more a general representation of the surrounding area than a scale drawing. In some ways, that made it easier to read. The blue line that split in three and stretched down toward the bottom of the map obviously represented the three rivers. The round circle with the three squiggles running out of it near the source of the river must represent the voice in the earth. And the tall peak rising above the others could only be Burkhan Khaldun-G.o.d Mountain.

The entire map had been produced at a huge scale, so that you literally had to walk from one side of the chamber to the other in order to see it all.

Annja was still doing just that, working her way slowly from the lower section of the map, which represented the area they had traveled through the day before, toward the summit of G.o.d Mountain, the most likely place for Genghis Khan's tomb to be located. She was determined not to miss anything significant.

There was a shout of excitement from the far side of the room.

"Annja!" Davenport yelled. "Come quickly!"

He was standing roughly two thirds of the way up the slope of the large black triangle that represented Burkhan Khaldun and waving to her frantically.

So much for meticulousness, she thought and headed over to see what the commotion was about.

A symbol had been drawn on the map-a crude sketch of a woman riding a horse-and next to it were words in a fine flowing script that looked to be Mongolian. Annja couldn't decipher it, but it turned out Nambai could.

"The sixty...I think that translates as brides...rode sixty horses and now sleep under the, um, not sure what that word is...eyes of those who came before," he said.

Before he could move on to the second set of verses, both Annja and Mason spoke up, translating it from memory. "'In their arms is the truth you seek, the way to all that was and more.'"

It was an exact match to the hidden message Annja had uncovered in Curran's journal!

Nambai looked at the script, then nodded. "That's right. How did you know?"

"It's a long story," Mason replied and went on to explain about the message hidden in Curran's journal.

While he did that, Annja squatted down, letting her fingers trace the outline of the symbol on the map, wonder running through her veins as she realized that they were one step closer to their goal. The symbol put the Tomb of the Virgins on the south slope of Burkhan Khaldun, which couldn't be more than a day's hike north of their current position. They were so close!

Her musings were interrupted by Mason. "You'd have to ask Annja," he said.

She looked up at him. "Ask me what?"

"Nambai wants to know what the whole 'brides and steeds' thing means."

"Right."

The playful gleam in Mason's eyes told her that he wanted to know, as well, but he wasn't going to admit that when he had someone else to play the innocent. She threw him a blatantly fake smile, to let him know that he wasn't fooling anyone, least of all her.

"Well, the theory I'm running with at the moment ties the riddle back to the things we know about the Khan's burial." She stood, brushed off her hands on the legs of her jeans. "When Genghis died, he was in China with his army. Not wanting to bury his body among his enemies, his generals had it transported back to his homeland with an honor guard of sixty warriors. The guard traveled ahead of the funeral train, so in essence they could be said to have 'come before' Genghis. Once the procession reached the place in the Great Taboo where they intended to bury him, the entire honor guard was slaughtered down to the last man."

"That's what they get for volunteering," Mason remarked, but Annja ignored him. She noted that she had Davenport's and Jeffries's attention now, as well.

"Along with the honor guard, sixty virgins and sixty of the finest horses were sacrificed to provide the Khan with a harem and a herd for all eternity. Legend states that they were all buried together in a magnificent tomb, commonly referred to as the Tomb of the Virgins, but its exact location has always been a mystery because those who did the burying were themselves slaughtered to keep the secret safe."

"If I'm right, the phrase 'the way to all that was and more' means that we'll find the next clue inside that tomb."

She pointed to the symbol of the woman on horseback that graced the map at Davenport's feet. "And that tells us where to find it. Come on, I'll show you."

She led them all back outside and pointed up at the looming peak of Burkhan Khaldun. The mountain was far higher than the rest of those around it, making it easy to locate, and even from here they could see the deep snow that covered most of its face.

"That's where we'll find the Tomb of the Virgins, and, ultimately, where we'll find Genghis Khan's final resting place."

30.

The horseman hidden in the trees higher on the ridgeline above the river watched the intruders enter the Chamber of the Winds and felt anger grow in his heart. The chamber was sacred; how dare they defile it with their presence!

He'd been following the group ever since they'd entered the Ikh Khorig, just as he'd been ordered to do, but this was the first time since they'd come into the forbidden territory that they'd done something so unexpected that he wasn't certain how to respond. He'd been told to watch, but not interfere; yet surely that didn't include sitting back and allowing them to do this, did it?

He wasn't certain and it was that uncertainty that stayed his hand. That and the guns the intruders carried openly.

He chose to wait and watch, to see if he could determine what they wanted, so that when he reported back he wouldn't look like a fool.

The watcher was still there when the intruders emerged from the chamber almost an hour later and pointed north, toward the looming peak of Burkhan Khaldun.

That decided it for him.

It was time to tell the Voice of the Wolf.

31.

Darkness came early, thanks to the looming cliff face at their backs and the high trees surrounding them, so while there were a few hours of daylight left, it was all but useless as night began to settle in around them. Rather than try and blunder about in the dark, the decision was made to stay right where they were and use the antechamber for that night's camp. This had the added benefit of keeping them under cover should Ransom use that chopper of his to do a night flyover in search of their position, something Mason saw as fairly likely.

The extra meat they'd cooked the previous night was pa.s.sed around and eaten cold, but no one complained. They were happy to be out of the tents for a change, and the closeness of the rock around them locked in their body heat, creating a comfortable, if cramped, little haven for the evening.

A watch was set up, with Mason, Williams, Jeffries, and Vale taking three-hour shifts, in that order. Each man was to position himself a short distance downriver in the hope that the extra time they would gain with an advance warning might be enough for the others to escape into the nearby woods if it became necessary.

After dinner, Annja wandered over to where Mason was setting up his bedroll, getting everything ready before he went on watch.

"Do you think Ransom is still looking for us?" she asked.

Mason nodded. "Without a doubt. He's like a dog with a bone. The guy never gives up. He either gets what he wants or he destroys it so no one else can have it."

The stench of burning flesh rose in her memory and she shook it off with an effort. Ransom had certainly shown he was willing to destroy things to keep Davenport from finding the tomb before he did. It made her uneasy to think Ransom was out there somewhere, plotting how to get back into the game.

"Do you think we've lost him?"

Mason must have heard something in her voice, for he stopped what he was doing and looked over at her, studying her face as if trying to memorize it. "Do you know something I don't?" he asked.

She shook her head. She didn't know anything; she just had an uneasy feeling that something wasn't right. They'd missed something and she wasn't sure what. The feeling nagged at her, but she couldn't put her finger on it.

"We've lost him for the time being, but I don't expect for it to stay that way for long. He'll find us again eventually. Best I can do at this point is keep us moving at a steady pace and hope we get there before he does."