The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [121]
But what waited at the finish suggested that the journey would be worth the risks. ‘It’s Shiva,’ Nina gasped.
At the top of the ruined staircase was a broad ledge . . . and standing at its back, beneath the overhanging rockface, was an enormous statue of the Hindu god. Two-legged, but four-armed, the colossal figure was poised as if dancing. The sculpture, hewn from the rockface, stood sixty feet tall, towering over the bizarre settlement below. Its head was cocked at a steep angle, lips curved into a teasing half-smile that suggested it knew a secret . . . and was challenging onlookers to discover it.
Kit bowed his head in respect to the giant. ‘I would say we’ve found what we were looking for.’
Nina hurriedly took off her backpack and groped inside it. ‘Where’s the damn thing gone . . . here!’ She retrieved the replica of the key and held it up. ‘Look! It’s the same face, the same expression. This really is the key to the Vault of Shiva! We’ve got to get up there.’
Eddie surveyed the crumbled tiers. ‘Do you really want to risk climbing across on those ropes?’
‘There might be another way up, something we can’t see from the ground.’ She pointed at the ruins of the stairway. ‘See, we can get up to the second level on that, then we can get at least one floor higher if we use the carvings to climb up to that gap in the next ledge.’
‘And what if the whole lot comes down as soon as we put any weight on it?’
‘We’ll just have to hope Shiva was listening to Girilal when he asked him to look out for us.’
‘If Shiva really was watching out for us, he would have made it a nicer day.’ Eddie took in the dark grey sky above the canyon, snow-bearing clouds still scudding overhead. ‘And we’ve got less than an hour before it gets dark.’
‘I’m not going to just sit here,’ Nina said impatiently. ‘Let’s at least see how far we can get, okay? We’ll come back down before it gets dark and set up camp.’
‘All right, Christ!’ They headed for the base of the stairway. ‘Stick the rucksacks in that room there so we don’t have to lug them with us.’
Nina put the replica key in the inside pocket of her coat; then, the packs stowed, they started to ascend the rubble. It only took a few minutes to pick their way to the ledge on the second level. The carvings Nina had pointed out were an elaborate latticework with images of animals like bulls and elephants worked into the design. ‘It won’t be an insult to the big man up there if we use these as footholds, will it?’ Eddie asked Kit.
Kit smiled inside his fur-lined hood. ‘We’re here for a reason that will honour him, so I don’t think Lord Shiva will mind.’
‘Great. I like having God on my side. Any god.’ He brushed snow off the carvings and started to climb. ‘They’re all solid,’ he called back down from the next level.
Nina came next, breathing heavily with the exertion. Eddie helped her up, then did the same for Kit. ‘Okay, so now where?’ she said. The gap in the ledge through which they had climbed was too wide to jump, but it looked possible to climb across using the wall carvings to reach some dangling ropes further along.
Eddie tested the carvings, then picked his way carefully across the gap. The stone face of a cow crunched alarmingly when he stood on it; he hurriedly found an alternative foothold and completed the crossing. Avoiding the weak spot, Nina and Kit followed. By the time they were both on the other side, Eddie had tested the ropes to see if they would hold his weight.
‘Are they okay?’ Nina asked.
‘Too okay, if you ask me,’ he replied.
‘You think someone has been here recently?’ said Kit.
‘Yeah. In the last few years, definitely.’
‘Then somebody knows about this place,’ Nina said. ‘Girilal! That’d explain why he was trying so hard to persuade us not to come up here. He was worried we’d find it.’
‘He had the perfect cover,’ Kit mused. ‘He could watch everybody who came to Kedarnath or Gaurikund, and nobody would