Sir Bedford shook his head. “You must have faith, Lord Kyre.”
“Yes, but we also must think rationally.” He rose to his feet to face the team. “You said yourself that these Buddhists were persecuted and probably attacked. Couldn’t the invaders have burned everything? And if not, couldn’t the scrolls have been damaged while the Buddhists fled along some mountain pass? The journey certainly must have been dangerous, even by today’s standards.”
“Therein lies the beauty of my profession,” Bedford explained. “What you deem impossible, men like Reginald, and Archie, and myself prove to be true. We do it time and time again. In fact, the more you say something cannot be done, the more we delight in doing it.”
“Bedford!” Archie called out from somewhere deep within the central structure of the temple complex. Unlike the others, he dared to brave the collapsed building and explore further into the ruins. “Bedford, you must come and see this.”
The team ran over to what was left of the doorway. Archie reached his arm from beyond the rubble, helping Sir Bedford pick through the fallen stones of the lintel and jambs. The others followed, soon finding themselves in a dark, dripping chamber.
“This must be the innermost temple,” Bedford said, studying it.
Patrick had to stop to let his eyes adjust. The only source of light came from a large crack in the roof, which allowed only one shard of illumination in at a time. On a sunny day, the room would have been dim. On a dreary, rainy day like this, it was nearly pitch-black.
Archie pointed to a set of steps cut into the floor at the center of the room. “There’s a passageway,” he said. “I nearly fell into it before I noticed it.”
“Probably leads to a meditation room,” Sir Bedford said. “Buddhists believe in the importance of fasting and self-reflection. The Buddha himself sat in meditation for forty-nine days without food or water. Instead of death, he found enlightenment.”
Patrick snorted. “Impossible.”
“You are so quick to dismiss their beliefs,” Bedford said. “But did not Christ survive forty days in the wilderness? Do you also scoff and claim that to be impossible?” When Patrick said nothing, Linley’s father continued, “Buddha’s followers hope that, through their own deprivation, they too will find nirvana. Although, it is a well-known fact that persons suffering from starvation and dehydration—and even seclusion for long periods of time—will begin to suffer hallucinations. Organs will fail. The body will shut down. Some argue that these hallucinations are often mistaken for visions. And that the inner peace which the person experiences is actually the onset of death itself.”
“Which do you believe, Papa?” Linley asked.
“I believe whatever was once down there has long since been removed,” he said with a sigh. “It makes more sense to assume the scrolls are being housed in a monastery high in the Himalayas. They would be much, much safer there.”
“Safer from what?” Patrick asked.
“The elements.” Sir Bedford leveled his eyes on Patrick from across the fire. “And from those who may not have the ancient texts’ best interests at heart.”
Patrick snorted. “Of course.”
Linley’s father turned his gaze to the rest of his team. “That is why we will continue onward into the north.”
“You’re proposing we go on to the Himalayas?” Reginald asked.
“Why not?” Sir Bedford asked. “We are more than halfway there already.”
Linley shook her head. “I thought we were going home if we did not find the scrolls. You said absolutely nothing about monasteries or mountains.”
Schoville had to agree. “Bedford, we’re not prepared to go to the Himalayas.”
“It is not the Himalayas as you think of them,” Linley’s father explained. “It is really more of the foothills of the Himalayas. No snow, no mountaineering, no caving. Just a few more days of traveling.”
Linley looked from Schoville to Archie, to Reginald, and finally to her father. “Do we have enough provisions?”
“More than enough for the trip there,” Schoville said. “But the return…”
“We can get food from the monks,” Sir Bedford told them.
Patrick cleared his throat, drawing attention his way. “Even after you’ve taken their sacred religious texts? I find that very hard to believe.”
Archie barely resisted the urge to strike the man. “You do not get an opinion. You may have pushed your way into this expedition, but you are not part of the team.”
“Archie…” Linley said, trying to stop an argument before one began.
“Be quiet, Linley. Someone needs to say this, and I guess I’m the one who will have to do it.” He pointed at Patrick. “You may be used to getting your way in London, but just because you have a title doesn’t mean you have a say with us.”