Curioso woke in the middle of the night, swathed in dreams of rescue, of the last moments on the moutainsside, of George Mallory, of the White Sacred Mountain with the oblique shadow, and the deep exhaustion and grief in his bones. And he saw that it had happened, that it had not been a dream. And now he was among them. He saw Annette sleeping beside him, and off nearby, Tirseng. Around the low plateau on which the rescue team rested, there was a crackle of storm winds brewing. He cursed quietly under his breath. There was no choice. He had to know.
He got up on his unsteady feet, and crept silently over to where Tirseng lay. "Tirseng," he whispered, "Tirseng!!"
Tirseng jolted out of sleep. "Yes, friend," he said,"how are you?"
"Quiet, Tirseng! We are surrounded by ghouls or the mask of ghouls. We are in Dominic's domain."
Tirseng nodded. Curioso sat down beside him. "This is what I learned on the mountain, when we fought. Whether there is a Shangri-La or not, where it is or not, this is not it. We are far astray. All this -- " and he swept his hand over the distant lands -- "is a fantasy trap. You and I are being swept up in it, our minds clouded."
Tirseng said, "I have wondered. Mallory here" -- and he sat up, because Mallory had disappeared -- "He's gone!!"
"More demonic work. Whether he was the real Mallory or not, he was a puppet of the Master. We cannot know who is real and who isn't. And there is one more, besides these sherpas, these guards who sleep around us. One deadlier even than the Master."
"Curioso, you don't --"
"Yes, " he said grimly. "She is not real. She has been taken over by him. She came into his clutches, and is a demon."
Tirseng almost cried out. "NO, Curioso. She is real, if anyone is real."
"Did she leave your sight at any point since you left me?"
Tirseng crumpled where he sat. "Yes."
Curioso said: "Give me your knife. I have to finish this, now."
Tirseng resisted. "No, Curioso, you are wrong, you are making a mistake! She loves you, she kissed you when you came down off the mountain. She is true."
"Tirseng, I am trying to save us. Give me that knife."
Tirseng reluctantly handed it over. Curioso moved away from him back towards Annette's sleeping body. Tirseng sat there for a moment, and then moved out into the darkness, and hurled himself on Curioso.
"No!!!" he hissed, "No, you cannot, I will stop you, kill me if you must, you cannot." And they began to fight, quietly, deadly, no words, in the darkness. And they rolled down off the plateau into the rockfield below, wrestling over the knife. Finally, in spite of his weakness, Curioso's size advantage overcame Tirseng's wiry strength. Tirseng was pinned down, and Curioso held the knife over him. "No", said Tirseng at last. "You will have to kill me now to keep me from crying out. I will not hold back."
And then Curioso flung the knife aside in relief. "Tirseng, old friend, it is you. Really you." He embraced him. "I had to know. I had to know if you were a ghoul or not. A creature of that monster would have rejoiced in her killing. Thank God you are you."
Tirseng breathed out, and then said: "I thought you were taken over, I thought you were his."
"You mean you would have killed me."
Tirseng looked sheepish. "Let us just say that it is a good thing you won. "
Curioso smiled for the first time in days. "You know, Tirseng, I think you are as sweet on that woman as I am. "
"She is good for you, Curioso. I did not think so at the beginning, but I think so now."
"Let's hope we survive long enough so you can chant at the wedding. We have to get out of here, Tirseng. But how we get past the sherpas, who I cannot trust, I do not know. "
Tirseng looked up. "Curioso, the storm is about to break." There was a rising in the wind.
"Well, that might give us a chance to separate ourselves from the sherpas when the treck back starts. Whatever happens, stay close. There are only the three of us." And they went back over the lip of the plateau.
Curioso lay down beside Annette. A few moments later, she turned to him, and whispered: "Where were you?"
He put his hand over her mouth. "Getting a knife to come back and kill you."
She stiffened, and her eyes went wide. He hurriedly explained. She relaxed against him. He took his hand off her mouth.
She said: "I am not sure I appreciate being used as a test vehicle."
"Well, beloved," he replied, "You are the only one I could have no doubt about."
"The only non-ghoul in the place. I suppose one takes one's compliments where one finds them." She kissed him punishingly.
"We have to plan for the morning, for our escape," he said.
"Oh certainly," she said. "It just occurred to me that if you were strong enough after your ordeal to wrestle Tirseng, you were probably strong enough to wrestle with me."
"Chere, we are surrounded by ghouls, my demented brother the Black Master, virtually prisoners on the wild plateau of Tibet, and a vicious storm rising, and you -- "
"Tais-toi, monstre."
And around and above them the stars began to wink out behind the gathering masses of cloud.