The Ascent(28)

When the doors whooshed open, Andrew stood at the front of the bus. “Anyone want some Taco Bell?” He stared at the rest of us, imploring.

We all just stared back.

He broke out into a laugh. “Just kidding. Sit tight. They’ll load up the rest of our stuff.”

Sure enough, more young boys stuffed crates and boxes into the cargo hold beneath the bus. Men in flowing maroon robes watched from doorways and porches, smoking elegant, long-stemmed pipes.

Chad swooped down in the seat in front of me, beaming like a pair of headlights. “Listen, Timmy, I was all wired up the other night. No hard feelings, right?” He held out a hand.

“Sure,” I said, gripping his hand, then dropping it like a wet rag.

“Excellent, man.” Chad hopped up and sauntered toward the back of the bus.

“The guy’s a blatant *,” Curtis said, staring straight ahead.

“I wouldn’t have pegged him for the apologetic type.”

“Despite what just transpired, I don’t think he is.” Curtis glanced over his shoulder, perhaps to check on Chad, then turned around. “I’d watch my back if I were you.”

“Duly noted.” Which was when I happened to catch Shomas moving through a crowd of vendors in the cluttered marketplace. I noticed him in profile, but it wasn’t until he turned and glanced at our bus did I recognize him fully.

“Jesus Christ.” I jabbed a finger at the window. To Curtis I said, “That’s the guy who broke into my cabin.”

Curtis leaned across my lap and looked out the window. “Which one?”

“Son of a bitch.” I shoved Curtis aside. He called after me, but I was already off the bus and sprinting across the street. I followed Shomas’s hulking shape through the crowd, his clothes the color of sawdust and easily lost in the confusion. He turned a corner behind one building—or at least I thought he did—and when I pursued him, turning that very same corner, I was alone. The land dipped into a gradual valley where yaks grazed in a field far below. I must have miscalculated; had Shomas turned this corner, there was no place for him to hide.

And why hide? Did he even know I was following him?

“Hey,” Andrew said, startling me with a hand on my shoulder. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I thought I … I recognized someone.”

“Got a lot of friends out here, do you?” There was no humor in his voice.

“Sorry.”

“Run off like that again and we’ll leave your ass.”

“Okay. Sorry.”

“Get back on the bus.”

When I reclaimed my seat, Curtis thumped an elbow into my ribs and muttered, “The hell got into you, man?”

“Something doesn’t feel right,” I said before I fully understood what I was saying.

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Never mind.”

“You losing it already? Because we ain’t even on the mountain yet.”

“No,” I told him and wondered if it was the truth.

2



BY MIDDAY. THE BUS LET US OUT AT THE CUSP OF

a dense forest. Two Tibetan guides in full regalia waited for us. It was as far as the bus could go, so we all emptied into the mud and strapped our gear to our backs. Andrew spoke briefly with the guides in Tibetan, while Petras and I tied bits of leather around our exposed calves and neck to keep the leeches off.

“Do you understand any of it?” I whispered to Petras, still keeping one ear on the dialogue between Andrew and the guides.

“Very little. My Tibetan is shaky at best. Something about a river, following a river. The Valley of Walls is farther than Andrew originally thought.”

“What’s the Valley of Walls?”

“I don’t know. They keep saying …”

“What is it?” I pressed. “What?”

“Beyul,” he said.

“The hell’s that?”

“If it’s what I think it is …”

“What is it?” I pressed on.

Before Petras could answer, Andrew clapped. “We’ve got a few days’ hike ahead of us, gentlemen. The Valley of Walls is farther than I thought.”

Petras and I shared a glance. This time he did wink at me, and I said, “Nice translating, chief.”

Our backs and shoulders burdened with gear, we tromped through muddy ravines while following the two Tibetan guides and cutting swaths through the hemlock with large knives. Andrew remained close to the front of the line.

By late afternoon, the forest opened onto a sprawling mountainside dotted with ferns. The air was clean and scented with pine. Ahead in the unreachable distance, seeming to float unanchored to the earth,the crests of the snowcapped mountains rose like the humpbacks of sea beasts. A trail of white stone led in a gradual slope to a distant valley over which an enchanting mist hung suspended.

“There it is,” Petras said at my side, pointing at the line of snowcapped ridges on the horizon. “That’s where we’re headed.”

I was not intimidated by the distance. In fact, I was invigorated at the sheer prospect of it all. My feet ate up the earth, covering the distance without difficulty, and I was hungry to keep moving even as a smoky twilight settled over the valley.