The Chronicles of Shamballa

Chapter XLV: Something else in the dark

The sole steam Engine ran ahead at full speed along the tracks. The three men fed the coal to the engine and the Princess kept checking the gauges. It was getting darker and colder outside and they could see the sun setting down beyond the snow clad mountains. Carey took out his compass and map and laid them on a nearby stool. He confirmed that they were heading straight towards Tibet but he wondered for how long they could travel by train. And again he still hadn’t had the time to figure out where exactly in Tibet did the last piece of the Orb lie. He opened Blavatsky’s journal to look for clues but there was no mention about it. He then took his inscription of the Kalachakra map and checked it thoroughly- there was just this symbol of the final phase of the moon- a full moon and a carving of a hill.

He scratched his head in confusion- the last piece must be on the top of a mountain, but which mountain? The whole place was literally made out of mountains and passes. But wait- there was something else he didn’t notice earlier on the inscription of the Kalachakra. Underneath the carving of the mountain were two parallel lines curving its way downwards. He presumed that this must be a river coming out of the mountain. This could mean that it’s not just a mountain but the source of a river- a glacier. But which river could that be? Could it be the river Ganges? Of course that’s the only possible explanation. The road begins at the river and ends at the source of the river Ganges.

He almost jumped with excitement after the revelation. All he had to do now was to find the glacier and the mountain. The Princess looked at him curiously as he kept scribbling down on his notes- talking to himself. Ram and Raza watched over his shoulder as the master symbolist tracked down the clues.

The train was two hours away from the station- the only one that led to Tibet. She knew that the police must have alerted the authorities over there and they might try to arrest them but she thought of stopping the train well before they reached the station and abandon the Engine. It would be around eight in the night by the time they reached Tibet, and she wondered where they would hole up for the night…

Back in Kathmandu, the Dutchman had already found a way to follow them to Tibet. After several hours of pretending to be an aristocratic explorer, he managed to gain the trust of the Chief commanding officer of Nepal and somehow pursued him to help him explore Tibet. The Chief Officer agreed to help by lending him a fine Rolls Royce armored car and a driver to take him to Tibet. His negotiating and manipulative skills were truly uncanny. After bidding the officer adieu, he hopped on his car with his supplies and made his way along the hilly roads to Tibet via Kathmandu…

Meanwhile, Ashanti wasn’t done yet. Earlier she managed to resurrect the Hard Chief by using necromancy. The Chief was nothing more than a puppet in her ends- a demonic puppet with unbelievable abilities. She knew a secret road to Tibet and took no time to prepare for a long and arduous journey to the land of the abominable snowman. The Hard Chief followed like a zombie, his skin pale and his face void of any expressions and his eyes were white…

Two hours later, the steam Engine huffed and puffed into Tibet. The crew could already feel the stinging cold even though there was a fire in the engine room.

“Mr. Carey, have you found out about the next location?” asked the Princess.

“Yes, I have, we have to reach this glacier here and hopefully there would be some clues to lead us to the final piece,” he replied.

“That’s good enough for me, listen everyone, we have entered Tibet and we will stop after a few minutes- a few miles before we reach the train station. It’s going to be deadly cold out there, so wear those warm clothes you brought along. We will spend the night on this engine and make our way to our destination in the morning- Ram, prepare the stove and cook something from the supplies!” she ordered flipping some switches on the engine.

After a few minutes, the engine came to a complete halt on the icy tracks. Carey looked out of the window- it was dark and foggy outside. There was snow everywhere- the only lights were that of the Engine room and the only voices were those of their own. The tracks extended into the darkness in either direction. On both sides of the engine lay the icy plains and there was nothing else but darkness all around. There was a small station atleast 5 kms ahead but the Princess thought it better not to cross - earlier she saw a milestone that showed that they were 10 kms away from the junction. She correctly guessed the distance and stopped halfway from it.

An hour later, Carey looked at his watch, it was nine o’ clock. He had filled himself with the finest meat and rum that they had stolen from the cargo and was pretty drunk right now. All of them laughed and giggled and shared stories and anecdotes and ate till they could no more. Carey looked at the rations- they were enough to feed five of them for a month. As time passed, one by one, they fell asleep. Raza and Ram collapsed side by side on the floor, while the Princess prepared herself a bed on the bunk. Carey walked up to her and thanked her for helping him on this journey- she laughed and suggested that he should go to sleep because he was too drunk to talk. He strongly suggested that he wasn’t and said that he had to urinate and opened the Engine door to walk outside. The Princess sat there thinking that he would fall head first into the thick snow and she had to go rescue him.

Carey walked outside, leaving the cabin door half open. He was dizzy and could barely recognize his left from his right. As soon as he jumped down, he noticed that he was knee deep in thick snow and he could barely move. He struggled for a bit and somehow managed to get ten feet away from the Engine. The snow stung his face and covered him everywhere- but he managed to finish the job and turned around towards the Engine.

But as he turned around, he noticed that someone was standing at the front of the Engine, watching him. He could barely see in the snow but in the faint light of the engine, he could make out a figure of a large man walking away slowly into the darkness. He thought he was either hallucinating or was too drunk. So he tried to walk as quickly as possible towards the Engine. The Princess stood at the doorway looking for him. He could see her at the door but as he tried to walk towards her, he felt that he was barely moving. The wind howled loudly, almost deafening his ears, the cold was getting unbearable and he was running out of breath. The harder he tried to walk ahead, the more he felt that he was still at the same place- the snow had reached his waist!