Late in the afternoon, Curioso went into the empty monastic shrine and sat. He took out the folded piece of paper, and pondered. Then he put it in his pocket, and stood up in the warrior pose. He invoked Akshobhya, Lord of the Vajra clan, transmuter of the poison of delusion, and, as he had done ever since Annette had come to him, his consort, Buddhalocana, and his assistant, Kshitagarbha, for the energies of Tirseng. "VAJRASATTVA" he intoned, and, for the first time since he had been freed from the poision of murdering his Geshe, he called upon the Tulku, his Emanation Body, for assistance, and his own Unexcelled Yoga Tantra Abhisheka from so far back in the troubled history.
"We have been in thunmongnyid, the ordinary between, for so long, but it is coming to an end, now, we are entering thunmongmayinpa, the extraordinary, in our struggle with this pretan ghoul, this acolyte of Yama. We are saturated in the bloodhell of the five poisons. We seek your help, now and at all costs."
He sat back down in the emptiness, and the emptiness responded with emptiness.
"Help her, Buddhas, she is Samayatara, from this place, from this Northern Realm, from Karmasampat. "
And again there was emptiness.
"She is going down to death, Amoghasiddhi, your consort, have you no help for her or her people, your own kingdom?"
Again, emptiness. Curioso stretched to get up to leave, frustrated, and as he rose, the answer came flooding into his mind. For a moment, he was beaten backwards by the immensity of it, and then he saw it all in a terrible flash of insight.
"No!" he shouted. "No! I cannot." But it was yes.
He turned and walked out of the shrine, shaken. He could not: he did not know enough, he had no one to help, where was his teacher? And then he thought that perhaps his teacher had helped, was the One Who Spoke. But maybe his mind was clouded, the last trick of his insane brother! And yet. And yet. He moved faster. He could only go through with this if he did not think, if he just went forward, fast, unthinking, fast. He picked up speed and went to Tirseng's quarters, and told him. And Tirseng shouted: "No!". But he came with Curioso, and they went to the Princess, who was sitting with Annette, and the Chinese doctor.
"Princess, Tasha, I have not found a path out of this horror, but I have discerned the beginnings or the endings of something. I know that you too were a lineage student, and I know that you are an adept, and I say that in the shrine of Akshobya I received this. Is it a lie, or a desperate truth, I do not know. It terrifies me, but it seems to be the only way, and the only way is the way."
"Speak, Shinturnam. If it terrifies you, what will it do to us?"
"I am asking you to give up hope, Tasha. I know that you came to this valley, to regain your health, save your people, but it will not work. They will be enslaved, my brother is lost on the wilds of evil. What is eating your body is somehow emanating from him, from this realm he embodies. Yet Annette is right, he must somehow be freed from this realm, or none of us will be."
"But how?" said Annette.
"The Princess must die. And I must go with her. She must enter the bardo realms of her own volition, and I will go as her consort."
Annette stood up, trembling. Tirseng nodded, darkly.
The Princess sat erect. "You mean the Yugannaddha of Death? But we have not spoken of this, ever. It is unheard of. And there is no chance. Not here."
"Only you can do this, Princess,and only I can ward him off on the mountains of the hell realms."
She broke out into disbelief. Her voice was now a weak whisper "But he will destroy us in our weakness!".
"He will try. But we have help. We have Annette and Tirseng. They can fight here, fight him off. Princess, we are bound together. It is our only chance."
"But you know that they may be drawn into the realm, into death, they may fall into the chasm."
"Yes, they have to choose. "
Tirseng said: "I can do this. I can go instead."
"No" said Curioso, "He is my brother. And there is no reason for you to die for him."
Annette came forward. "Am I right? Do I understand what you are proposing?"
Curioso looked at her and said: "It is one more mountain. The worst, the last."
Annette said: "What does it entail?"
Curioso said: "Well, for a start you have to stick a knife into my heart."

* * * * * *

Towards midnight, Tirseng returned to the Princess' chamber. There was a great low chanting from the Princess' subjects that filled the room. He came to where Annette was sitting, just outside the mandala circle that had been created during the early hours of the night. He sat down, and whispered: "I have warded off the Prince for the night. The Princess is preparing for the wedding. He is mollified."
Annette nodded, the unease and terror gripping her ever tighter. In the middle of the circle, fitfully lit by candles in sconces along the walls, the Princess and Curioso chanted the final passages of the precious word initiation so that each would be the other's consort, Samyatara, Amoghasiddi. When it was done, the Princess sitting propped up, fading, began to chant OMRULURULIHUMBHYOHUM invoked Shri Devi the Dharma Protector against the assaults in the world of the living. As she did so, her people entered the circle for the last time, kneeled and bowed. Finally, Annette, robed in initiate's garb, and holding a knife with a twisted blade, entered into the circle. She prostrated herself before the two figures, the Princess, ebbing fast; and Curioso, who was halfnaked, with a rope wound about his upper torso.
The Princess broke into her chant: "Annette, Annette, I invoke the Krodhishvara to protect you; but I am frightened. Hold on to me after, when the torrent begins." Annette bowed, and turned.
Curioso came from his post beside the Princess, and began unwinding the rope. "Beloved, remember, remember, the rope is just a symbol, but it is essential when the torrent begins. If it breaks, I will be gone. And I will miss you, eternally."
She breathed deeply, and forced a smile. "Oh, you don't get rid of me that easily."
He unwound the rope, leaving a loop about his body.
Annette wound part of it around her body, and gestured to Tirseng, who came into the circle, and took the end of the rope.
Curioso said, his voice trembling: "It is just one more mountain. " But it wasn't, and they all knew it. Curioso said: "Remember, remember, you have to brace yourselves, you will be fighting here against his usurpation as we go, and you have to keep from being sucked into the death realm. We are fighting together, though we appear separate. If you fail, we are lost. "
Tirseng said quietly: "As are we if you fail."
He turned away, and then turned back, embraced Tirseng, and then said quietly to Annette: "If there were any other way, I would not ask you to do this."
She said: "I know. But it is hard. "
He said: "You have more courage than I. I could never do this to you."
She said: "I haven't done it yet. I don't know."
Curiso said: "The instant the Princess finishes her death, the moment her death rattle comes, strike. Any hesitation, for even a moment, and we are far apart."
Annette nodded, grimly.
They kissed long. He looked at her, stroked her hair, and said: "Forever." And she said: "Forever". Then he turned back and sat beside the Princess. The Princess was in the midst of the Highest Black Yoga Tantra, the making of your own death. She alternated between mumbles and open speech, and then lapsed into silence. Outside the red circle, her people chanted and wailed quietly, so as not to wake the palace. At the inner edge of the circle, Tirseng sat braced for the onset of the demon world; further in, Annette stood poised. In the centre, the Princess, in her gold headdress and marriage gown, slumped in the arms of Curioso, who chanted to remove his terrible fear and trembling. They began to hear a highpitched whine from somewhere infiltrating the room, and then a familiar crackling sound, like the sky crashing and warping could be heard outside. The winds began rising, howling.
At last, at the supreme moment, there was a gasp, and the Princess willed herself dead, and died. And with a sweeping motion of her arm, Annette plunged the ceremonial dagger deep into Curioso's heart!!!!!!