North Face (eBook)
300 Seiten
Vertebrate Digital (Verlag)
978-1-910240-47-2 (ISBN)
Chapter 2
It was late spring on the plateau of Tibet. Streams were alive with meltwater. Butterflies were making their first tentative forays into the air, miraculously alive after being cocooned through the long Himalayan winter, the deepest and coldest on earth.
An eagle circled in an electric blue sky. A sky so dark it looked like a splash of deep space had accidentally been mixed in.
Tashi and her family had just arrived at the windswept grassy plain where the summer festival would be held. Snow-capped mountains glimmered in the distance. Everest was among them, mysterious behind a translucent veil of wispy cloud. Tashi felt a tingle of excitement run up her spine. Hundreds of nomadic families were arriving. The games were set to begin.
‘This will be your year,’ her father told her earnestly as they looked out across the lively scene. ‘The white scarf will be yours.’
Tashi let her imagination soar, wondering if she could win the horse race that she had entered for the following day. It would take all her skill in the saddle, and plenty of courage as well. She had seen the risks such races involved, the broken legs and arms that came with a fall beneath thundering hooves. Occasionally there were fatalities but with luck she would snatch the white scarf from the ground; be the first girl ever to win the trophy.
Tashi and her father walked through the festival site, enjoying the bustle as the traders set up their stalls. Tantalising aromas filled the air; spicy momo dumplings frying in bubbling oil, sweet rice puddings known as dresil, filled with dried cherries, pecans and pine nuts.
A green Chinese army truck pulled up nearby.
‘Lots of soldiers this year,’ her father commented grimly.
A line of stern-faced young troops marched past. Tashi heard the crackle of walkie-talkies, the language alien to her. Tibet had been an autonomous region of China for two generations now but relations were strained and the people of this remote plateau still yearned for independence.
‘Come to enjoy the show?’ Tashi asked with a wry smile.
‘Maybe.’
Families from all over the plateau were already pitching their tents. A thousand Tibetan nomads would arrive in the next twenty-four hours, each dressed in their finest clothes. Then the festivities would start: archery competitions to decide the finest shot; wrestling for trophies; and the horse races in which Tashi excelled.
It was a celebration of life in Tibet. A celebration of what it meant to be a nomad on the highest plateau on earth.
‘Don’t you think the atmosphere is a bit tense?’ her father said.
Tashi looked about: it was true that there were large groups of nomad youths hanging around looking restless, eyes darting every so often towards the troops. In the distance Tashi saw a convoy of army trucks moving along a dusty highway. They slowed, turning towards the festival field.
‘Where’s Karma?’ she asked, suddenly feeling her heartbeat quicken.
Tashi realised she hadn’t seen her younger brother all day.
Tashi split from her father and found some friends.
‘Have you seen Karma?’
They shook their heads.
A truck pulled up right next to them, a contingent of soldiers climbing out, wide-eyed young men, looking as out of place as if they had been dumped on the far side of the moon.
‘This means trouble,’ one of Tashi’s friends muttered.
Tashi felt she was probably right.
The arrival of military personnel at the festival was no surprise to the young Tibetans. The previous two years had seen a huge increase in the amount of Chinese troops in almost every part of Tibet. Every town, every village, every monastery had soldiers attached, watching the local population with obsessive zeal, intent on sniffing out rebellion or dissent even if it was entirely imaginary.
The troops were young and ambitious, keen to prove themselves to their superiors. Snooping on the local populace was encouraged, spying almost endemic. Promotion could follow the arrest or detention of a local Tibetan. Tashi and her friends mostly kept their distance.
Suddenly Tashi saw her brother. He was wrestling two other lads on a patch of wasteland. One of them was a good head taller than Karma but Tashi’s younger brother was fast and strong for his age.
‘Karma!’ she shouted. Her brother made a lightning move, picked up the bigger boy as if he was a sack of potatoes.
‘Hey!’ she called, louder. Tashi couldn’t help smiling as the fight became critical.
Karma body-slammed his opponent into the dirt, a thick plume of dust rising up in a cloud. His opponent groaned, conceding defeat with a wave of his hand. Karma walked up to his sister, brushing dust off his clothes as he came.
‘Want to try your luck?’ he asked her. ‘Best of three falls?’
‘No thanks,’ Tashi replied with a big grin. ‘I wouldn’t want to embarrass you in front of your friends.’
At that moment three of the soldiers marched past. Karma winked at his buddies and started to follow them.
‘Karma!’ Tashi hissed. She snatched at his arm but he shrugged her off with a laugh.
He fell in at the back of the stern-faced young conscripts, goose-stepping comically behind them to the delight of his buddies.
‘You!’
The voice bellowed from a nearby jeep. An officer stepped out, dressed in a crisp uniform, three golden stars glinting in the sun.
Karma froze in his tracks, turning abruptly.
‘Captain Chen,’ one of Tashi’s friends muttered. ‘I know him, he’s always looking for trouble.’
Tashi groaned beneath her breath. Typical Karma, she thought, always in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Karma stood there, staring at his feet as the military man strode up.
‘You think it’s a good idea to disrespect my soldiers?’ he barked.
‘It was just a joke, sir,’ Karma replied.
‘A joke? Those are representatives of the People’s Army, here for the protection of us all, guarding the border zone day and night. There are enemies out there. Counter revolutionaries. You think that’s a joke?’
‘No sir.’
‘Let me see what you have in your pockets,’ Chen ordered.
Karma’s eyes flitted to Tashi, his cockiness completely gone.
‘Come on boy, quickly!’
Karma reached into his trouser pockets, bringing out some coins and a twist of twine.
‘Now that one … ’
Karma brought out a small silver locket.
‘Not carrying drugs I hope?’ He opened the tiny silver box.
‘No sir. Just some lucky beads.’
The army man tossed the small jade beads in his hand. Then he placed them none too carefully back into the silver box and snapped it shut.
‘How about your jacket?’ the officer said. ‘What have you got in there?’
Karma did not move.
The officer reached out and searched Karma’s top pockets, grunting as he found a small plastic wallet. Tashi held her breath. The man opened the wallet and found a photograph inside.
Karma went white in the face. Chen plucked the photograph from the wallet and held it right in front of Karma’s nose.
‘Who is this?’ he said quietly.
Tashi felt her heart beating hard against her ribs.
‘Well?’
‘It’s the Dalai Lama, sir … ’
‘You know it is illegal to own a photograph of this so-called holy man?’
Karma nodded miserably.
‘So? What are you doing with it?’
‘I was given it, sir. I forgot it was there.’
‘You will be punished for this,’ Chen said. ‘Where do you stay?’
‘With my f … f … family,’ Karma stammered. He looked across to Tashi and the officer spun round to follow his eyeline.
‘Who are you?’
‘I’m his sister.’
‘Come here!’ the officer ordered. Tashi walked over.
‘Do you also break the law with images of this criminal?’
Tashi shook her head. ‘No, sir.’
Chen thought for a few moments. His eyes bored into Karma with terrifying intensity.
‘Maybe I should investigate further,’ he said.
The soldier ordered the brother and sister to take him to the family tent.
Karma led the way across the festival site to the place where the family were camped. The officer picked up two young soldiers on the way. Tashi wanted to yell a warning to her parents but she knew it would only make things worse.
A few of the other nomads were watching from nearby. Their mouths fell open when they saw Chen and his guards marching towards them.
In years gone by the military would never have bothered them at the festival. Just left them in peace. Clearly those days were over.
‘This is our place,’ Karma told him nervously.
The officer pulled aside the felt covering that served as a door and stepped in without announcing himself. Tashi and Karma followed, seeing their parents turn in astonishment as they saw the soldiers standing there. It was extremely discourteous for any visitor to enter without uttering a friendly greeting from outside.
‘Karma? What’s happened?’ Tashi’s father scrambled up from the blankets where he had been resting.
Chen held up the portrait of the Dalai Lama.
‘Your son had this in his pocket,’ he told them. ‘Do you have anything to say?’
Karma hung his head. The only sound in the tent was the bubbling of the rice pot. Tashi felt her spine chilling.
‘Perhaps the whole family needs to be investigated,’ Chen proposed. ‘Maybe you are all collaborators of this criminal?’
Tashi’s father stepped forward, raising his...
| Erscheint lt. Verlag | 10.3.2016 |
|---|---|
| Reihe/Serie | The Everest Files |
| The Everest Files | The Everest Files |
| Verlagsort | London |
| Sprache | englisch |
| Themenwelt | Sachbuch/Ratgeber ► Sport |
| Kinder- / Jugendbuch ► Jugendbücher ab 12 Jahre | |
| Kinder- / Jugendbuch ► Kinderbücher bis 11 Jahre | |
| Kinder- / Jugendbuch ► Spielen / Lernen ► Abenteuer / Spielgeschichten | |
| Schlagworte | adventure stories for kids • children's adventure books • children/'s adventure books • climbing mount everest • death zone • fiction books for teens • good books for teens • good teen books • mount everest facts for kids • teen fiction books |
| ISBN-10 | 1-910240-47-8 / 1910240478 |
| ISBN-13 | 978-1-910240-47-2 / 9781910240472 |
| Haben Sie eine Frage zum Produkt? |
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