Read Online The Dragon Pool: The Dragon Pool by Christopher Golden - Free Book Online
Authors: Christopher Golden
Ads: Link
and that was certainly the impression she'd gotten.
Professor Kyichu had kept his shoulders squared and his chin high with determined hope for most of the time since Kora had vanished. Now, the light in his eyes had gone. An air of defeat hung about him.
Anastasia wanted to scream. She turned to stare at the man with the long, tied-off white beard. He gave her a curious look.
She wanted to shout at him, to demand that they be allowed to search the village. If that had been blood on the shirt of the man she'd seen, he might very well be their saboteur. Human or not. Sometimes, there was a fine line, and there were creatures that existed right on that line. The blood would be from the bullet wound she'd put in his shoulder last night.
It made sense that Nakchu village had a saboteur in its midst. The elder himself had cautioned them against disturbing the spirits. Maybe the villagers all wanted to drive the archaeology expedition away.
And yet, what were her options? She could draw her gun and forcibly search the entire village. Tenzin had his rifle. But chances were good that some of these farmers and yak-herders had rifles, too, and if not, they'd have knives. Anastasia had no doubt the villagers would defend themselves as necessary.
If Kora was still alive, the clock was ticking. She hated to leave the village, just on the chance that the girl might be there, but there was only one alternative to drawing her gun. She calculated how long it would have taken word to get back to the States, to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, how long to prepare a team, how long to travel to Lhasa, and then up into the mountains.
Hellboy would come. She couldn't let herself think otherwise.
If there were answers to be found in this village, he would find them, and damn the consequences. That had been one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him, so long ago.
"We'll be coming back," she told the elder, who only smiled and nodded, not understanding a word.
She turned and stormed after her companions. When she came abreast of Tenzin, she fell into step with him, her eyes on Professor Kyichu.
"We're coming back," she told the guide.
Tenzin nodded. "I did not doubt."
Hellboy watched the land whip by beneath the helicopter and felt boredom scraping against the base of his skull like grinding teeth. The prickle of surreal excitement brought about by the idea of seeing Anastasia was still there, but numbed now with the lull of constant travel. He'd journeyed home from Chile, been back in Connecticut for only a handful of hours, then gotten on a plane headed for Tibet. It felt like he'd been in constant motion for a week.
The constant travel was only part of the problem, though. The real boredom, now, came from the sameness of the terrain. There were only so many herds of sheep and yak and deer that he could see before they stopped being a pleasant distraction and just became a part of the monotony of green and brown grass, mountains, and valleys. It was beautiful, certainly. Breathtaking. But now he just wanted to stop. Stop moving. Stop flying. Stop thinking.
They were at the top of the world. The air was so thin that at times it took an exceptionally skilled pilot to keep the helicopter aloft, but he had faith in Redfield. Hellboy sat in front, next to the pilot. Sarah, Meaney, and Neil were in the middle of the big chopper, and Professor Bruttenholm and Abe were in the far back, wrapped in blankets and sleeping like babies.
Hellboy couldn't sleep. He stared out at the night and the dark hills and tried to keep from screaming in frustration at being cooped up for so long. And just when he thought he couldn't take it another second, Redfield reached up to scratch his beard and cleared his throat.
"There's the lake," the chopper pilot said.
Redfield took the helicopter across the water low enough that the force of the air rushing down from the rotors churned the surface. Hellboy scanned the shore ahead of them,
Professor Kyichu had kept his shoulders squared and his chin high with determined hope for most of the time since Kora had vanished. Now, the light in his eyes had gone. An air of defeat hung about him.
Anastasia wanted to scream. She turned to stare at the man with the long, tied-off white beard. He gave her a curious look.
She wanted to shout at him, to demand that they be allowed to search the village. If that had been blood on the shirt of the man she'd seen, he might very well be their saboteur. Human or not. Sometimes, there was a fine line, and there were creatures that existed right on that line. The blood would be from the bullet wound she'd put in his shoulder last night.
It made sense that Nakchu village had a saboteur in its midst. The elder himself had cautioned them against disturbing the spirits. Maybe the villagers all wanted to drive the archaeology expedition away.
And yet, what were her options? She could draw her gun and forcibly search the entire village. Tenzin had his rifle. But chances were good that some of these farmers and yak-herders had rifles, too, and if not, they'd have knives. Anastasia had no doubt the villagers would defend themselves as necessary.
If Kora was still alive, the clock was ticking. She hated to leave the village, just on the chance that the girl might be there, but there was only one alternative to drawing her gun. She calculated how long it would have taken word to get back to the States, to the Bureau for Paranormal Research and Defense, how long to prepare a team, how long to travel to Lhasa, and then up into the mountains.
Hellboy would come. She couldn't let herself think otherwise.
If there were answers to be found in this village, he would find them, and damn the consequences. That had been one of the reasons she had fallen in love with him, so long ago.
"We'll be coming back," she told the elder, who only smiled and nodded, not understanding a word.
She turned and stormed after her companions. When she came abreast of Tenzin, she fell into step with him, her eyes on Professor Kyichu.
"We're coming back," she told the guide.
Tenzin nodded. "I did not doubt."
Hellboy watched the land whip by beneath the helicopter and felt boredom scraping against the base of his skull like grinding teeth. The prickle of surreal excitement brought about by the idea of seeing Anastasia was still there, but numbed now with the lull of constant travel. He'd journeyed home from Chile, been back in Connecticut for only a handful of hours, then gotten on a plane headed for Tibet. It felt like he'd been in constant motion for a week.
The constant travel was only part of the problem, though. The real boredom, now, came from the sameness of the terrain. There were only so many herds of sheep and yak and deer that he could see before they stopped being a pleasant distraction and just became a part of the monotony of green and brown grass, mountains, and valleys. It was beautiful, certainly. Breathtaking. But now he just wanted to stop. Stop moving. Stop flying. Stop thinking.
They were at the top of the world. The air was so thin that at times it took an exceptionally skilled pilot to keep the helicopter aloft, but he had faith in Redfield. Hellboy sat in front, next to the pilot. Sarah, Meaney, and Neil were in the middle of the big chopper, and Professor Bruttenholm and Abe were in the far back, wrapped in blankets and sleeping like babies.
Hellboy couldn't sleep. He stared out at the night and the dark hills and tried to keep from screaming in frustration at being cooped up for so long. And just when he thought he couldn't take it another second, Redfield reached up to scratch his beard and cleared his throat.
"There's the lake," the chopper pilot said.
Redfield took the helicopter across the water low enough that the force of the air rushing down from the rotors churned the surface. Hellboy scanned the shore ahead of them,
Similar Books
