The Sacred Vault_ A Novel - Andy McDermott [126]
One of the ropes, weakened by age and weather, snapped. Kit screamed, but jerked to a stop once more after falling only a foot, other lines entangling his ankle.
The first guardian was off the bridge, drawing a savage-looking knife. The man behind him had a sword. More men ran down the stairs towards the two intruders. The only possible escape route was down the ropes to the tier below - but Eddie couldn’t do that until Kit was free. He kept lifting. ‘Grab the ledge!’ he said. Kit bent at the waist, struggling to reach the icy stone. ‘Come on, you’ve almost got it!’
The other man’s fingers closed round a carved outcropping. Eddie let go of the ropes and grabbed his wrist, pulling him on to the ledge. He was safe.
But Kit didn’t even have time to say thanks. The first guardian reached them, lunging with his dagger—
Eddie jerked sideways, the blade slashing his padded sleeve. He whipped up one arm to knock the man’s hand away from him - and slammed his other fist into his face. The robed man fell on his back with a starburst of bright blood around his mouth.
Kit freed his leg, raising his own fists as he faced the group running in from the other direction. ‘What do we do?’
‘Climb down the rope,’ said Eddie.
‘We’ll never make it in time!’
‘Not if you keep yakking - go on! I’ll hold ’em off.’ He snatched up the downed man’s knife as Kit took hold of the rope and hopped over the edge, quickly shimmying down—
And scrambling back up again, even faster. ‘Eddie, there’s a man with a sword underneath me!’
Eddie held up the dagger - and another guardian mirrored his move, only with a blade about three times longer. More men approached from behind. ‘Well . . . arse.’
Nina reached the doors. What she had thought to be carvings were actually separate objects set into the stone: five large wheels arranged in a circle around the ‘keyhole’, smaller wheels set around their edges with dozens of words in Sanskrit written upon each one. What it meant, she had no time to wonder - all she could do was jam the replica key into the lock and hope something happened.
Nothing did.
The key was a perfect fit, but there were no pins or levers or other mechanisms inside the hole. The horrified realisation hit her that the key was symbolic, not physical - the wheels had to be aligned with the faces of Shiva and the five goddesses in a particular way. It was a combination lock.
And she didn’t know the combination.
Key in hand, she spun to find the guardian right behind her, his sword raised. She screamed—
The blow didn’t come. Instead, he held the blade to her throat and dragged her back to the top of the steps. She saw that Eddie and Kit had been captured as well, a dozen men surrounding them.
Her captor was apparently the leader, bellowing a command in Hindi. The others responded by seizing their prisoners and forcing them to the edge of the ledge. Eddie struggled, but a guardian smashed the hilt of a knife against his head.
Nina was thrust forward, wobbling on the brink. Eddie and Kit were shoved into similar precarious positions.
One push would hurl them to their deaths.
She heard her captor take in a breath to shout the order that would kill them.
24
‘Stop!’
The command didn’t come from the man behind Nina. It boomed up from the valley floor, echoing off the stone walls. She looked through the snow - and saw a single figure at the foot of the ruined stairway, dressed in simple orange robes.
Girilal.
The leader hesitated, not delivering the fatal push . . . but not pulling her back to safety either. He shouted down to the old man in Hindi, sounding angry - yet also somehow respectful. Girilal replied in kind, his voice commanding without a hint of chattering faux-lunacy.
Whatever he was saying, it worked. With a frustrated grunt, the leader stepped back, hauling Nina with him. Keeping his sword to her neck, he waved for the others to pull Eddie and Kit away from the edge.
To her shock,