The Emerald Casket (27 page)

‘You only have one gun?' Gerald said. ‘I thought this was the deadliest cult in India.'

‘It used to be,' Hoskins said. ‘In the early days. There were a lot of treasure hunters that had to be discouraged—and none too subtly. We've been trading on reputation ever since.' He turned to Kali. ‘You can train this lot how to use the slings.'

An hour later a makeshift target range had been set up near the campsite. It consisted of a line of sharpened stakes driven into the ground. Each one had a pumpkin shoved on top at head height.

Kali stood about fifteen paces away. The others grouped behind her. She held the same type of sling that Gerald had seen her use in the alleyway in the Delhi market. She swung the rocks at the end of the rope.

‘It's quite easy,' she said. ‘Hold it by one end, swing it above your head and release. It's all in the wrist. Aim for the throat—the rope winds up the neck and the rocks hit the bad guy on the side of the head. Simple.'

Sam had grabbed some charcoal from the fire and drawn faces on each of the pumpkins. Gerald chose the one that looked the most like Mr Fry. Their first few throws were wild but soon Ruby and Sam were hitting the stakes every time. But they couldn't master the wrist flick to get the sling to wind up and smack the rocks into the pumpkins. Gerald was hopeless; all his shots flew well over the top and ended up metres away. As for Alisha, after one throw that didn't cover half the distance to the target, she gave up.

Kali narrowed her eyes and strode up to the line. The others fell back as she whipped a sling above her head and launched it. The rocks fizzed through the air, spreading out into a triangle of twirling mayhem. A rope caught one of the stakes and wound up the pole in a blur. The rocks hit the side of the pumpkin with such force it exploded in a slurry of seeds and orange gore.

There was a stunned silence as the remains of the pumpkin showered down onto the dirt. ‘Like I said,' Kali smiled. ‘Simple.'

They trailed back to the campsite to get ready for the journey to Mamallapuram. Alisha took Gerald by the arm and held him back.

‘Gerald. After you went to sleep last night Ruby and Sam filled me in on the history of the fraternity. I swear I knew nothing about it.'

‘It's okay, Alisha. I believe you. And Ruby seems happy enough now.'

‘You don't understand—your family isn't the only one with old legends.'

‘What do you mean?'

‘Do you know how my family got the
Noor Jehan
diamond in the first place? My relatives stole it.'

‘Stole it?'

‘Mr Hoskins told you about Chandra-Gupta? About how he led that Roman assassin to find your ancestor. There was some falling out, an argument. You don't argue with a Gupta king.'

‘The king had the assassin killed?' Gerald said.

‘Yes. And they found the
Noor Jehan
diamond on his body. Did Hoskins tell you the assassin's name?'

Gerald raised a shoulder. This was all such ancient history. ‘I don't know…Octavius something, was it?'

‘His name was Octavius Viridian.'

Gerald shrugged again. ‘So?'

‘You know how names can change over the generations— alter a bit here and there. It's probably nothing… but…' Alisha stopped.

‘Yeah?'

‘Viridian—it's a shade of green.'

Chapter 21

G
erald spent the hours bouncing across the Indian plains in the back of a beaten-up jeep considering the possibility that Sir Mason Green was descended from a Roman assassin named Viridian. The same assassin who had hunted down and killed Gerald's ancestor. It seemed too ludicrous to even contemplate. Then again, Gerald thought, no more ludicrous than half the stuff he'd had to deal with since the start of his school holidays.

By the third time he'd been tossed from his seat after the jeep dropped into a dry gully, Gerald had come to a conclusion: it didn't matter whether or not Green was prosecuting some centuries-old vendetta against Gerald's family. Gerald had to outsmart him. It was while planning that trick that the jeep hit a half-buried log and sent Gerald's head crashing into the roof.

‘Hey!' he yelled. ‘Have you ever thought about steering?'

Kali wrestled with the wheel as the jeep continued its jostling path. ‘Anytime you want to take over just let me know,' she shouted back.

Gerald rubbed the top of his head and wondered whether this car trip might not be more dangerous than anything waiting for them at Mamallapuram.

There was an hour or two of light left by the time the battered jeep and its rattled occupants broached the last sand hill and caught sight of the fishing village. Beyond it the Bay of Bengal stretched to the horizon. Kali parked the jeep in the shelter of some spindly trees. She pointed to what looked like a lighthouse on a barren hilltop overlooking the village.

‘Let's check the view from up there,' she said.

Monkeys squatting at the base of the hill scattered as Kali led the way over smooth boulders towards the peak. A stiff easterly breeze hit them at the top, carrying with it the tang of salt and rotting seaweed. It did its best to cut through the late afternoon heat. There was a threat of rain in the air.

They perched on a rocky outcrop—warmth radiated from the baked granite. They could see the village in its entirety—a modest collection of low-set stone and concrete buildings laid out in a neat grid that extended to the water. A ribbon of yellow sand was dotted with clusters of fishing boats, pulled up above the high-water mark. To the south, stretching into the long sweep of the bay, was a sandy point. At the end of the point, well away from any other buildings, was an arresting sight.

‘Will you look at that,' Sam said.

An ancient building, carved from stone the colour of under-done toast, stood at the end of the spit. It was topped by two pyramid-shaped spires, one taller than the other, both stacked up like tiered wedding cakes.

‘The Shore Temple,' Kali said. ‘People come from all over the world to see it.'

Ruby pointed to sand dunes further south. ‘And that must be where we'll be going.'

Gerald switched his gaze and breathed an amazed, ‘Far out!'

About half a kilometre to the south of the Shore Temple, behind a haze of salt spray, was an enormous archeological dig. A rock wall around the perimeter of the site stretched into the bay. The thrum of generators and pumps came to them on the breeze.

The rock dam was impressive enough. What it protected was a step up altogether: the lost city of Mamallapuram.

The tsunami had uncovered an ancient wonder. Large sections of the site were still to be excavated but enough had been dug away to give an indication of a once-magnificent city with streets and lanes, houses and shops, a city square and a space that might once have been a park. At the centre of the site, the focus of the city, were six pyramid-shaped temples. It was a glimpse into history. And the might of nature.

‘So what do we do now?' Gerald asked.

Before anyone could answer there was a chirruping from Alisha's bag.

‘Finally,' she said as she fished out her phone. ‘Some coverage.' She checked through her messages and started jabbing at the keypad with her thumbs.

‘There's one from Miss Turner from two days ago, telling us to go ahead and get the train at Agra because she and Mr Fry have been delayed,' she said.

‘Delayed?' Sam said. ‘What were they up to?'

Gerald shuddered. ‘I don't want to even think about it.'

‘There's one from my father checking how we're going.' Alisha thought for a second, then, ‘I'll let him know we're spending a few days at the beach.'

‘Not going to mention the kidnap, the escape, the assault by the thin man or the train hijack then?' Sam asked. Alisha gave him a you-must-be-out-of-your-mind look.

Gerald checked his watch. ‘We've only got about an hour before it gets dark. We may as well go have a look.'

Gerald led the trek down, half climbing and half sliding over the boulders. Seconds after jumping the last few feet to the ground he heard a cry from above. He looked up to see Kali in a cleft between two rocks. She was clutching at her leg and swearing profusely.

Sam jumped down beside Gerald. ‘I think she's twisted her knee.'

Gerald clambered back up to find Kali doubled over in pain. ‘I slipped,' she said.

Ruby and Gerald helped her slowly to the ground. She sat and rolled up her right trouser leg. The joint was twice its normal size. ‘You're going to have to do this without me,' she said.

Gerald shook his head in frustration. ‘This is like some bad Tarzan movie. Are you sure you can't walk?'

Kali went to stand but the moment she put weight on the leg she collapsed back to the dirt. ‘Get me to the jeep. I'm out of action.'

They helped Kali into the backseat so she could stretch out. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small drawstring bag.

‘I took this from your skinny friend. It might come in handy.'

Gerald loosened the string and upended the bag over his palm. Out slipped the emerald, a rectangular block of the richest green.

‘I thought you trusted me,' Gerald said. ‘How come you kept this a secret?'

‘My dad thought it safest if no one knew I had it,' Kali shrugged. ‘You can't choose your relatives, I guess.'

Gerald, Ruby, Sam and Alisha pulled on their backpacks and set off.

They crossed the road that skirted the town. Gerald climbed through a gap in a crumbling brick wall onto the dunes. The sea breeze kicked up a notch, lifting the top layer of sand and whipping it along in gusts. By the time they got close to the water's edge, they were covered in grit.

Gerald wiped a hand across his face and marvelled at the feat of engineering that lay before them: an entire city reclaimed from beneath the waves. To their left and right the enormous rock walls extended out from the shoreline into the surf. They stretched hundreds of metres into the water—the spray blown up by the breeze made it hard to tell exactly how far. Long inflatable tubes, like a string of enormous sausages, ran along the tops of the walls, forming a barrier against the waves. Floodlights on tall poles dotted around the perimeter emitted their first glow for the evening. A dozen bulldozers stood in a cluster to the north near a number of portable buildings that must have been offices for the archeologists working on the dig. Access to the ancient city was sealed off by a security fence crowned with rolls of razor wire that ran the length of the site along the beachfront. A pair of wire gates was set into the fence and three guards sat outside a squat gatehouse. Their rifles rested against a wall while they slouched in plastic chairs, bored.

‘Don't think we're getting in that way,' Gerald said, looking at the guards. ‘Let's check it out down here.'

They trudged through the sand to the south, kicking their way through a line of dead fish and seaweed at the high-water mark.

‘Take a look at the size of those crabs,' Sam said. ‘And the pincers!'

Crabs the size of pudding bowls scuttled over each other as they turned the fish remains into shredded flesh and bone. Sam went to pick one up but the crab spun round and lashed out with a claw.

He whipped his hand back and held up an index finger—blood dripped from a gash at its end. ‘Those things are sharp!'

Gerald scooped up a coconut from the sand. It had been sheared clean in half. ‘Might be best to keep clear of these guys,' he said.

They reached the southern wall and leaned against the security fence, fingers through the wire mesh.

‘What do you think, Gerald?' Ruby asked. ‘Can we climb it?'

Gerald peered up at the fence on one side and the rock wall on the other. ‘Looks a bit dodgy,' he said. ‘I don't like the look of that razor wire. And there's no way to get over those blow-up sausage things.'

Alisha sniffed and turned away. ‘I don't do climbing,' she said.

Gerald pointed halfway along the rock wall to where a rusted barge stacked with machinery was anchored in the bay. A spout of sandy water gushed out one side like a busted main.

‘Must be where they pump the water out of the city,' he said.

‘How are we going to get in?' Ruby said. ‘Those guards are hardly going to let us wander about.'

‘Leave this to me.' Alisha powered across the sand towards the gatehouse, waving at the guards.

‘What do you think she'll say?' Gerald asked.

‘I'm guessing it will involve money,' Ruby said.

Alisha had her bag open. Her hand emerged with a roll of notes. The guards were suddenly very attentive. Alisha left them to share out the cash.

‘Okay, we're in,' she said. ‘You're archeology students from Oxford on a study tour.'

‘University students?' Gerald coughed.

‘I told them you're part of an accelerated learning program.' She glanced at Sam. ‘Maybe best if you don't say anything.'

Gerald slapped Sam on the shoulder before he could speak. ‘Come on,' he said. ‘Let's go exploring.'

The security guards looked at them curiously as they walked through the gates. One gave an uncertain salute. Gerald could sense that Ruby was on the verge of collapsing into giggles.

‘Are they still looking at us?' she asked after they'd gone about twenty metres.

Gerald glanced back over his shoulder. ‘Yep. Act like you're interested in old stuff.' He squatted and picked up a rock and pointed at it with exaggerated sweeps of his hand. The guards lost interest and slouched back to the gatehouse.

Gerald, Sam, Ruby and Alisha stood on the threshold to the lost city of Mamallapuram. A burst of late afternoon sun broke through the cloud cover. Everything around them seemed to be carved from the same honey-coloured rock that glowed in the last of the day's light. They had a steep walk down to the city floor. Immediately in front of them was a row of squat buildings. The gaps between them formed tight alleyways that weaved into the city proper, branching off at all angles. The spires of the six temples rose above everything else.