Roopkund - The Valley of Death - Prompt Two

 

ROOPKUND - THE VALLEY OF DEATH

 

 

The firelight cast flickering shadows across the face of our guide. His age was indeterminate, as was common among the dwellers in the high peaks; fierce weather, sudden storms and unstable ground aged men prematurely. Still, he had led us true, and as we approached the end of our journey, seemed spry and anxious to continue his service to us until we reached our goal.

 

“I remind you again,” he began, his hand holding a long stick with which he stirred the flames. “I will lead you to the valley of Roopkund, but no farther. Not one step will I make into that accursed valley.”

 

Alden, our expedition leader, smiled grimly. This had been a sore spot between them for some days. Yet the guide had not budged on this point, and no other guide had been willing to lead us at all. We were a small group of men who sat around the fire; six in total, not including the guide. I looked around at the faces of my comrades, wondering if they were anxious about going the last part on our own.

 

Brian sat hunched in his coat, shivering despite the warm down stuffing. His tartan-inspired wool hat rested at his bushy red eyebrows. His hands clutched his cup of soup, pulling the warmth from his dinner. Despite his dislike of the chill temperatures, he was a good man to have next to you in a pinch. Fast on his feet, he was.

 

Between Alden and Brian, sat Gregory and Thomas, brothers who always shared their explorations together. They seemed a bit more at ease in the cold than the Scot did, but they huddled close to one another. They might have been sharing body warmth or simply demonstrating a united front against the unknown. It was impossible for me to determine.

 

Alden had gathered our motley crew together using persuasive stories - tales of gold on the skeletons known to populate the central lake. He didn’t care about the dead, only the riches they could offer to him. He was a hard man, but he was fair and good in the mountains. He was also was very good in a fight. If we ran into trouble, he would more than hold his own.

 

I moved my attention to Lewis. He was our cook. He had already pulled the empty soup pot from the flames, and then filled it with a few handfuls of snow from the nearby drifts. Replacing it on the flames to melt, he was rummaging in his pack for his scrub rag to clean the pot before warming water for a final cup of tea on the dying coals. I had been on other expeditions with him in the past. Here, we had plenty of snow and ice, so water was not an issue. Firewood, on the other hand, was limited to what we carried on our backs.

 

I sat between Lewis and our guide. As my gaze moved around the circle of men, I wondered yet again, why I had joined this motley crew. What had pushed me to accept this journey to the cursed valley? It wasn't the promise of golden riches. I was comfortable and needed no more. I shook my head clearing the cobwebs of pending sleep. It was not the first time this thought had crossed my mind, but I still had no answer. Now, after two weeks of hard climbing, we were almost at the valley’s doorstep.

 

The Roopkund Valley, towards which we journeyed, was legendary. Stories told of a ruler who planned to do pilgrimage at one of the sacred peaks nearby. The group had consisted of a ruler (King, Sultan, Leader - the title was unimportant), his pregnant wife, and their followers including a dance troupe, guards, and others to make the journey easier and more enjoyable. While in the valley of Roopkund, they experienced a sudden, violent hailstorm, which left nothing but silence, and bodies behind. We were far above the timberline; there was no shelter from the Mountain Gods.

 

Our guide sat silent as we spoke softly between ourselves. Within a day, two at most, we would arrive at the entrance to the valley. I wondered what we would actually find there. The few who had come before us had spoken of skeletons everywhere, but it was the golden treasures they had brought back with them that pushed Alden to this quest.

 

Two hard days of climbing later, we gathered at the valley entrance. “Here is where I leave you,” our guide said. “Continue along this ridge and be careful on your descent. The rocks are unstable. The dead will be found near the lake in the bottom of the valley.” Alden tried again to convince the man to stay with us as we continued on, but he refused. “I have fulfilled my part of the bargain, now fulfill yours. Give me my payment. I go no farther.”

 

Shrugging, Alden paid our guide and we gathered to enter the valley, heading towards a steep drop-off. As we approached a turn that would block the entrance from our sight, I turned around to see if our guide was watching our progress, but saw no sign of him. “He must have moved quickly, wanting to return to his home”, I thought, then pushed the strange man from my thoughts. I remained unaware that his ghost had rejoined those of his comrades until much later that night, when the dead attacked us. The battle was futile - how to slay one who was already dead? As I joined their ranks, I realized there was no way for the living to leave Roopkund, the valley of death.