Path of the Tiger, стр. 9
For the first time in many weeks the woman spoke. Her face remained hidden behind the cloths wrapped around it, but her eyes shone like twin jewels against the inky darkness of her hood.
‘Don’t worry Higgins,’ she said, her tone of voice calm and neutral, her accent coloured with a distinctly foreign lilt of North African origin. ‘I’ll do what you want me to.’
‘You’d better,’ he muttered, before turning and striding stiffly to the front of the company as they got back into formation.
‘The whore is going to cooperate, yes?’ Vasilevsky asked Higgins as he took his place in the vanguard of the small force, while looking askance at the woman in black.
‘She is,’ Higgins answered. ‘You don’t need to worry about that. She knows full well what’s at stake; if she even shows a hint that she’ll fail to follow our orders, I’ll release the black pigeon. But she won’t be that stupid, mark my words. She’ll do what we need her to.’
‘And as soon as it’s played its part,’ Vasilevsky hissed, his cold eyes taking on even more of a flinty hardness, ‘I’ll shove my sabre through its throat.’
‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves, my good sir,’ Higgins said calmly. ‘We’ll deal with her when the time comes. Are you ready to advance?’
‘Ready.’
‘Then I’ll allow you to give the order.’
Vasilevsky nodded curtly to Higgins and then barked out the command to advance. The troops moved at a steady pace into the strange artificial night created by the titanic trees, looking like mere toy soldiers, abandoned in a forest and come uncannily to life.
For all his bravado and bluster, Higgins could not help but feel somewhat nervous as he and his fellow officer led the company into the gloom. This place had an utterly unearthly feel to it, and the sensation of static electricity pricking its million unseen needles through his skin, penetrating the very marrow of his bones, intensified with every step he took. Indeed, it seemed almost as if a deeply sonorous, humming resonance, increasing steadily in potency, was vibrating through the air, the soil, the trees … through every molecule, in fact, of this place.
‘What’s that sound?’ he heard one of the troops mutter behind him. ‘Is it just me, or can anybody else hear that?’
‘There will be silence as we advance!’ Higgins snapped.
‘These trees must be thousands of years old,’ Vasilevsky murmured, awed, as they skirted around the vast trunk of one of the titans. ‘How on earth could it be possible that any tree could grow this massive? I feel like … like a blasted insect next to this thing!’
‘There must be something in the soil,’ Higgins answered, ‘or, rather, beneath the soil. It may not only be the timber from these giants that makes us rich beyond our wildest dreams, Vasilevsky … there could be some sort of incredible energy source buried in this valley, something that could displace both coal and oil as fuels to power the future growth and expansion of human civilisation.’
A rare smiled brightened Vasilevsky’s stone-hewn features.
‘Two birds with one stone, eh Higgins? We strike a crippling blow against the foul beastwalkers, and we discover resources that will make us wealthier than fucking emperors.’
They continued to move through the eerie half-light, striding with focused purpose between the tower-like trees. Although they were advancing blindly, without a map or a guide to lead them on, they pressed on with unwavering intent, pulled ever on towards some invisible centre, like insects drawn to a single flame in the blackness of night, unable to resist its deathly light.
‘Oh my, look at these!’ Dr Khan exclaimed with delight, breaking abruptly away from the group and scurrying behind one of the lighthouse-like trees.
‘Blast the fool!’ Vasilevsky snarled, before he shouted out an order to halt the advance. ‘Go see what he’s doing,’ he muttered to Higgins, ‘and get him back in line.’
‘Dr Khan went that way, sir,’ one of the troops said as Higgins passed him. The soldier pointed to a narrow gap between two of the trees.
Higgins strode briskly through the shadows, and he found the elderly scientist squatting in front of a huge clump of luminescent fungi and mushrooms. They were coloured in hues of red, blue, violet, yellow, green and pink, and were glowing softly in the dark, emitting a gentle effulgence.
‘Quite fascinating, Dr Khan,’ Higgins remarked dryly as he stared at the enchanting display of bioluminescence, ‘but we cannot stop now.’
‘I, I must take samples!’ the awestruck scientist spluttered. ‘This is, why, it’s an entirely new species! They may even contain, or, um, yes, perhaps they are reacting to some sort of, of, radioactive isotope in the soil, or, um, maybe, or—’
‘Come Dr,’ Higgins said, taking the elderly man’s arm with gentle fingers but a firm grip, and leading him away from the glowing fungi. ‘I assure you that you will be given all the time you need to examine the many wonders of this valley – after we have completed our primary mission objective.’
He led the scientist back to the group, and they continued to advance, drawn inexorably toward the heart of this otherworldly valley, where the greatest prize was ripe for the taking … or so they thought.
They pressed on through the dreamlike forest, and the closer they got to whatever it was that was tugging them towards it, the stronger the seemingly magnetic force appeared to become. The ground beneath their feet was more broken and uneven here, shifting from a relatively flat topography to earth that seemed to have been torn up by some freak seismic event, with huge ruts, ridges, ravines and pits scarring the land. In some places massive rocks jutted at strange angles out of the ground, like the crumbling tombstones of