Kingdom of the Golden Dragon by Isabel Allende

Author:Isabel Allende [Allende, Isabel]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Fiction, General
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Medicine for the Mind

THE FIRST THING NADIA NOTICED when she regained consciousness was the rancid smell of the heavy yak hide wrapped around her. She half-opened her eyes but she couldn’t see anything. She tried to move, but she was immobilized; she tried to speak, but no sound came out. She felt an unbearable stab of pain in her shoulder, which within seconds spread through the rest of her body. Again she sank into darkness, with the sensation that she was falling into an infinite void that enveloped her totally. While in that state, she floated calmly, but the moment she had a spark of consciousness she felt pain shooting through her. Even in a faint, she moaned.

Finally she began to come to, but she felt as if her brain were enveloped in a whitish, cottony matter she couldn’t shake free of. When she did open her eyes, she saw Jaguar bending over her and assumed that she had died, but then she heard his voice calling her. At last she was able to focus, and with the burning stab in her shoulder, she knew she was still alive.

“Eagle, it’s me . . .” said Alexander, so frightened and worried about his friend that he was near tears.

“Where are we?” she murmured.

A bronze-colored face with almond-shaped eyes and a serene expression came into view.

“Tampo kachi, brave little girl,” Tensing greeted her. He was holding a wooden bowl and indicating that she should drink the liquid it held.

With difficulty, Nadia swallowed the warm, bitter liquid that fell like mud into her empty stomach. She felt nauseated, but the lama pressed his hand firmly against her chest, and the discomfort immediately disappeared. She drank a little more, and soon Jaguar and Tensing faded away and she fell into a deep, tranquil sleep.

Using his rope and flashlight, Alexander had descended into the ravine in a matter of seconds; he had found Nadia curled up amid some brush, icy and motionless, like someone dead. When he confirmed that she was still breathing, he yelled with relief. As he tried to move her, he saw the dangling arm and assumed she had broken some bone, but didn’t pause to find out. The first priority was to get her out, though she wouldn’t be easy to lift, in her unconscious state.

He removed his harness and fitted it around Nadia, then used his belt to strap her arm tightly to her chest. Dil Bahadur and Tensing raised the girl very cautiously, careful to keep her from swinging against the rocks, and then threw the rope back down to Alexander so he could climb up.

Tensing examined Nadia and decided that before anything else they would have to get her warm; they would tend to the arm later. He tried to give her a little of the rice liquor, but she was unconscious and wouldn’t swallow. Among the three of them, they rubbed her from head to toe for a long time, restoring her circulation, and as soon

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