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.Then, as if their work were done, they began to withdraw from the Monastery.A terrified monk rushed into the Great Hall to give the news to the Abbot.‘The Yeti are falling back,’ he cried.‘Come, brethren, do not be afraid,’ said the Abbot.He led his little band from the Great Hall into the courtyard.All but two of the Yeti were gone.These two stood waiting by a great golden statue of Buddha that dominated the courtyard, the Buddha that was the very spirit and symbol of Det-sen Monastery.The appearance of the Abbot and his followers seemed to serve as a signal.The remaining two Yeti lumbered forward, seized the statue in their mighty paws, and began to tilt it forward.The old lama, Rinchen, ran forward from the crowd in horror.‘No! No!’ he cried.‘You shall not.’ Stretching out his feeble hands, he made a vain attempt to prevent the great golden figure from falling.Slowly the Buddha crashed to the stones of the courtyard, crushing the life from old Rinchen in the process.The head of the Buddha was smashed from the body.It rolled slowly across the courtyard.The two Yeti turned and left.Khrisong looked from the broken statue to the broken body of Rinchen.‘The Monastery of Det-sen is accursed,’ he said bitterly.‘It is time for us to leave.’Padmasambvha was communing with the Great Intelligence.Beside him stood Victoria, unseeing and unhearing in her trance.‘Now it is complete,’ whispered Padmasambvha.‘Now the monks will leave.By nightfall the Monastery will be deserted, the entire mountain yours.’ He turned his attention to Victoria.‘And what of you and your friends, my poor child? The Doctor is not so easily frightened as my poor monks.Therefore you must help me.Together we will make sure that he leaves.Come closer.’Unable to resist, Victoria stepped forward.Jamie watched impatiently as Thomni finished scratching a plan of the Monastery on the cell wall with a piece of chalk fished from the Doctor’s capacious pocket.‘This is the courtyard,’ said Thomni, pointing.‘We are here – to the south.The north lies – here.’ And he chalked an ‘N’ on the map.The Doctor took the chalk from him and drew a line across the map.‘Does your science provide an answer, Doctor?’ asked Thomni.‘Only half an answer, I’m afraid.We know that the transmissions come from somewhere on this line.But we need a second reading, a cross reference to give us the actual place.That could give us the where.’ Absent-mindedly, the Doctor scratched his head with the piece of chalk.‘Of course we still won’t have the most important thing.’‘Oh aye, and what’s that?’ said Jamie impatiently.The Doctor looked at him in surprise.‘The why of course.That’s what we really need to know.’Travers came to life with a sudden start.He sat up, looked round, and said cheerily, ‘Hullo, Doctor, Jamie.How are you all?’‘Oh, fine, just fine,’ said Jamie dryly.‘What’s going on?’ said Travers.‘What are we doing here?’‘There’s been a spot of trouble,’ said the Doctor gently.‘With the Yeti,’ added Jamie,‘Oh, really,’ said Travers.‘Must have missed it all while I was sleeping.’‘You had a spot of trouble yourself,’ prompted the Doctor.‘On the mountainside.You saw something pretty nasty.Do you remember?’‘Not a thing,’ said Travers.‘Got a bit of a headache, actually.Think I’ll get a breath of fresh air.’ He got up, went to the door and tried to open it.‘I say,’ he said indignantly, ‘do you chaps realise we’re locked in?’In the courtyard, the monks had managed to move the heavy statue.Some of them were lifting Rinchen’s body on to a stretcher.Khrisong’s head was bowed in grief.‘Do not blame yourself,’ said the Abbot Songtsen.‘Death is inevitable.’ He turned to the monks with the stretcher.‘Rinchen will accompany us on our journey.There will be time to mourn our brother.The rest of you gather what is needed.Save what provisions you can.Soon it will be the hour for meditation.Then we must depart.’‘What of the strangers?’ asked Sapan.‘They will be taken with us to a place of safety.’‘And the Master Padmasambvha?’‘His powers are great,’ said the Abbot.‘He will remain.’There was a sudden stir amongst the crowd.Many of the monks fell to their knees.Turning, Songtsen saw that Victoria had come into the courtyard.In her hands was the holy ghanta.A murmur of awe swept through the crowd.For a moment Victoria stood immobile, eyes wide and staring hands outstretched.Then she spoke.But the voice that came from her lips was that of Padmasambvha [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]