Kim Page #8

Piece by piece...

it will come together.

You are from the plains?

Yes.

What are you doing in the hills?

I serve my holy man

who searches for a river.

You search in the hills for a river?

It is a sacred river.

You are lying.

I do not understand, master.

Others have sent you to find out things.

We search for a sacred river.

Who sent you?

We search for a...

Wake up.

Where am I?

I will tell you.

You are in deep trouble.

The boy resisted my will.

His senses did not leave him.

I can tell by his eyes.

See? They are unchanged.

Why did you pretend?

Why?

Who sent you?

- Let me go!

- Why did you pretend?

- Let me go!

- Who sent you?

- Who sent you?

- Let me go to my holy man!

Tell me, who sent you?

Leave him for me.

We have our own way

of loosening a tongue.

After you speak,

you have but to throw the rope up...

and you will be pulled to safety.

When wisdom opens your mouth,

you have only to whisper.

I shall be here.

Soon the muscles of your legs

will no longer hold.

You will crash down many thousand feet.

Well, boy, speak.

Who sent you here?

So much courage in one so young

must conceal a deep secret.

The moon is not yet high.

I can wait.

Come, boy.

Is your mouth still shut?

Already your strength begins to ebb.

An hour or so more...

and a gust of wind will blow you

off that ledge like a feather.

Come, boy. Speak!

Sahibs, welcome.

What is the meaning of this?

It's a long climb down the cliff.

I've been waiting all night for your return.

Did you still recognize your friend

when you found him?

Who are you? What do you want?

It was whispered in the bazaar

that two sahibs...

had crossed the Russian border

into our land in search of knowledge.

That is so.

We are scientists.

We come here with permission.

We have it written here.

This expedition is for geological research.

Alas.

And all I find in here are plans for war.

Why, you...

If any harm comes to us,

you will answer to our government.

Sahib, failure in this life

is seldom rewarded.

Your government would be the first

to repudiate you.

And your journey down to the plains,

tied to the back of the pack animals...

will not be as uncomfortable as

the questions you'll be called to answer...

concerning the evidence in here.

Then there's the little matter

of injuring a holy man.

For that alone, were I not a man of peace...

I would take pleasure

in slitting your throats.

Mahbub Ali!

Tribesmen are coming from the north.

- How many?

- Ten.

And they all carry

the short-barreled rifles of sahibs.

When they arrive, it is you

who will take an uncomfortable journey.

Give me that rifle.

I'll give you only a warning, sahib.

To pull that trigger

would only warn our men who approach.

Chela!

If only thou would take a little food,

or even some water.

My heart is very heavy

for my neglect of thee.

I walked thee too far.

I have not always picked

good food for thee.

I've not considered the heat.

I have talked to people on the road

and left thee alone.

I have, I have.

But I love thee, Holy One.

Love thee.

My chela must not weep.

But I deceived your trust.

It was not in search of your river

that I led you into the mountains...

and brought injury upon you.

I lied, Holy One. Lied.

Have I taught thee so little of the way?

Does thou really think that

thou could've led me into the mountains...

if God had not so ordained it?

Mahbub Ali and thy chela

will take you to the plains...

to a man of medicine.

No, chela.

For me, the journey ends here.

But because of my love for thee,

there comes a voice which cries:

"What shall become of the boy

when thou art gone?"

Follow not those

whose feet lead to violence.

No.

Not even Mahbub Ali.

Return to the road of learning...

so that thou, son of my soul,

may stand prepared upon the threshold...

of a new and better world.

O Holy One.

And when I can no longer see thy face...

thy voice will reach me like a song.

Come.

Rejoice with me.

For through these hours of trial,

my soul went free...

and reeling like an eagle...

passed beyond the illusion

of time and space...

and the things...

that tell thee

my hour of deliverance is at hand.

Oh, my chela...

for me, the search has ended.

For the merit that I have acquired,

the River of the Arrow is here.

It breaks forth as I said it would.

Oh, my chela.

Holy One, you have not the strength.

There comes to me

the strength of the free and the sinless.

The wheel is just.

Stay thee, chela.

This is not yet for thee.

Keep thy feet upon the way...

until we meet again.

Hello, Father Victor.

It's your father's regiment you should

be joining, as they go to hold the pass.

When a young polo pony has played

a hard game, and played it well...

he should be allowed

to rest in the pasture.

You will see to it, Mahbub Ali.

Where do we ride now, Mahbub Ali?

Friend of all the world

goes back to the school of the sahibs.

Must I?

Father Victor said I should join

the soldiers of the Red Bull like my father.

All in good time.

And...

speaking of time...

Creighton sahib wanted you to have it.

How will you manage without me,

Mahbub Ali, when I am at school?

Well, I can but try.

Your beard grows slowly.

Yes.

But for you and others...

it shall bloom again.

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