Another room carved out of the cliff awaited her on the next tier, stone figures framing the arched entrance. As Kit climbed up, she shone her flashlight inside. It was considerably deeper than the ground-level chamber. Bundles of wood were stacked haphazardly near the doorway . . . but further back, the torch beam found something more regular.
Wooden boxes.
She advanced inside, bark fragments crunching under her boots. The boxes were old, the rough wood discoloured and mouldering, but the utilitarian construction was unmistakably the product of the industrial era. And as she got closer, she picked out words stencilled on them.
The language was English.
‘Nina? You coming?’ Eddie asked from the entrance.
‘Eddie, look at this.’ She crouched beside one of the boxes, reading part of the text. ‘“577/450 Martini-Henry”. Any idea what it means?’
‘It’s ammo,’ he told her. ‘Point five seven seven calibre with a four-fifty cal round. The Martini-Henry was a really old rifle.’
‘How old? And who used it?’
‘The British Empire. Don’t know exactly when - Victorian times, I suppose.’
She straightened. ‘Which means the colonial-era Brits found this place too. They definitely would have made a record of it . . . if they’d ever returned.’
‘You’re saying whoever lived here killed anyone who found it?’
‘Looks that way.’ They returned to the ledge, where Kit was waiting.
‘So who were they? And when did they leave?’
A faint sound reached them over the wind’s constant waiclass="underline" an echoing whisper.
Growing louder.
More voices joined the sinister chorus, the mutterings coming from all round them. Metal scraped and clinked against stone.
‘I don’t think they did,’ Nina whispered.
Men emerged from the dark openings below them across the valley. Through the falling snow, the only details she could make out were that they all wore robes of dark blue and their heads were shaven.
Eddie looked down through the gap in the ledge. ‘Shit. There’s more of them underneath us.’
‘Who are they?’ Kit asked nervously.
‘Guardians,’ guessed Nina. ‘They protect the Vault of Shiva. And I think they’ve been doing it for a very long time.’
‘Maybe we can talk to them.’ Kit called down to the shadowy figures in Hindi. His words didn’t appear to have any effect, more men coming out of the chambers.
‘What did you say?’ Nina asked.
‘I told them I’m a police officer, and that we mean them no harm.’
‘I don’t think they believed you!’ Eddie cried. ‘Down!’
He pushed Nina to the floor. Something flashed across the narrow valley and clanged off the stonework just above them before spinning away. Kit ducked as another object scythed at him. It hit the wall with a ringing screech and landed in the snow beside Eddie. A flat hoop of gleaming steel about nine inches across, a chakram, inscribed with Sanskrit text - and with a razor-sharp outer edge, as Eddie discovered when he tried to pick it up.
‘Ow! Fuck this Xena bullshit,’ he growled as another chakram slashed overhead. He took out his gun. Their attackers clearly recognised the weapon, warning shouts prompting them to move into cover. He heard movement on the tier below and aimed the Wildey down through the gap. A robed figure darted out of sight.
‘What do we do?’ said Nina, anxiously watching the entrances on the far wall. Faces stared back at her from the shadows. Hiding in the nearby chamber was not an option: it had no other exits, an inescapable trap.
‘If I take a couple down, it should put the others off.’ Eddie pointed the gun at one of the archways, the faces instantly vanishing into darkness. ‘Just need a good shot . . .’
‘Eddie!’ Nina warned, seeing a man climbing through another gap in the ledge about forty feet away. Eddie whipped the gun round - as something heavy struck his hand with tremendous force and a savage bolt of pain surged up his arm.
The Wildey was jarred from his grip, clanging off the edge of the tier and tumbling down to the ground. ‘Buggeration and fuckery!’ Eddie spat, clutching his hand.
The object that had hit him lay nearby. It was a dumbbell-shaped piece of metal almost a foot long, the bulbous sections formed from four thick, curved arms. A vajra, another ancient Indian weapon, which could be held and used as a club - or hurled at a target.
The climber saw that he had disarmed his opponent - and reached over his shoulder to draw a sword from a sheath across his back.
‘Uh, I think we should go,’ said Nina, pulling urgently at Eddie’s sleeve.
‘Go where?’
‘There’s only one place we can - up!’ She started to scale the carved wall to the fifth level, Kit doing the same.
Eddie looked across the valley. The robed men emerged from cover, and began to climb the walls. The man who had thrown the vajra ran along the ledge towards him, sword raised.
He snatched up the Indian weapon and hurled it at the running man. The vajra hit him hard in the face with a dull clang. He collapsed, face bloodied.
Eddie was about to run to the fallen figure and get his sword when a fusillade of missiles from the other side of the canyon deterred him. He ducked to avoid another chakram and several fist-sized stones, then scrambled up the wall.
Nina was already hurrying along the next tier. ‘Eddie, this way!’ she shouted, reaching one of the rope bridges. Its widely spaced planks were coated with snow, icicles hanging from them.
‘Are you bloody mad?’ he gasped as Kit helped him up.
‘There isn’t a way up from here!’ This section of ledge was truncated by a gap far too wide to jump, and any carvings they could have used to shimmy across had also been scoured away by whatever had fallen from above.
‘Shit!’ He looked down. The guardians had the home advantage, knowing the fastest routes up through the different levels, and were quickly gaining. Across the valley, though, he spotted an intact stairway connecting the level opposite to the sixth tier. If they could find a way to the top level, they might be able to get across to the giant statue of Shiva . . . ‘Nina! That key - will it get us into the Vault?’
‘What?’ she asked, surprised. ‘I don’t know. Why?’ He pointed up at the enormous figure, frozen in its dance. ‘If we can get inside, we might be able to shut them out.’
‘But they’ll have a key too!’
‘Maybe we can jam the door. Go on, get across!’
She hesitantly took hold of one of the bridge’s guide ropes. ‘I don’t think this is safe . . .’
‘If they can use it, so can we!’ More stones hurtled across the gap, smacking against the wall. Eddie threw one back. It hit a climbing man; he screamed and fell to the ledge below. ‘Go!’
Nina put one foot on the first plank. It creaked, but held. Both hands clutching the ropes, she took another step, and another. Icicles cracked and fell away as she moved across.
‘You go next,’ Eddie told Kit, picking up another stone. The guardians seemed reluctant to attack Nina, concentrating their missiles on the two men. Maybe they were worried about damaging the bridge. He ducked another lump of rock, then looked back down. Some of the guardians were only two tiers below, running along the ledge to reach more ropes where they could continue their ascent.
Nina was over halfway across, taking the bridge step by frightening step. The planks were not regularly spaced, requiring her to look down to be sure of finding a foothold - which gave her a horrible swaying view of the ground fifty feet below. But she pressed on. Only fifteen feet to go . . .