"If Dr. Conrad's interpretation of those ancient texts had been accurate," Anastasia began, "this would still have been a wonderful bit of archaeology, and an important opportunity to study ancient Tibet. But Mark, along with my employers at the British Museum and the Chinese government, arrived at their interpretations by first discounting the folklore involved."
Conrad laughed and shook his head. "Stacie, what are you talking about? Are you trying to imply the Dragon King--"
Hellboy held his breath when Anastasia looked at him.
"Was a dragon," she said, casting a quick glance at Conrad. "Yes. That's precisely what I'm saying." Her gaze returned to Hellboy and Professor Bruttenholm. "Oh, call it whatever you like--whatever fits your narrow imagination. Monster. Giant Gila monster. Miraculous survivor of Paleolithic times. All of that would be utter shite, of course, but if it makes it easier for you to accept..."
Professor Bruttenholm stroked his goatee, studying her. "Obviously, Hellboy and I have no difficulty--"
"Dragons!" Dr. Conrad said, too loudly. When he realized the volume of his voice, he hushed himself and looked around incredulously. At last he set his sights on the man from Beijing, thinking perhaps that Lao was the sole voice of reason remaining in the room. "Are you truly listening to this? This isn't science, it's childish nonsense. Dragons and princesses. Next she's going to tell me she believes in vampires."
Lao smoothed the lapels of his black jacket and fixed Dr. Conrad with a dark stare. "Of course she does, doctor," the man from Beijing said, in perfect, crisp English. "And with good reason."
Conrad spun, nose wrinkled in revulsion, and turned to Professor Bruttenholm. "This is absurd!"
"Not at all, Dr. Conrad. Vampires are, I assure you, quite real. Seventy-seven different breeds have been cataloged by the BPRD, and I can only presume there are others. Fortunately, they do not seem to be the problem here. Now, if you'll be so kind as to allow Dr. Bransfield to speak, perhaps we can return to my original question."
The man fumed, but he crossed his arms and said nothing further. Hellboy almost wished he would. At some point, his father would have told him to remove Conrad from the tent if he continued to impede their investigation. Would've been fun.
"Go on, Dr. Bransfield," Professor Bruttenholm said.
Hellboy couldn't have missed the cold professionalism in his father's tone, the distance there. The way Anastasia blinked, it was clear that she heard it as well. But she was used to being clinical and meticulous.
"Thank you, Professor," she replied, glancing from Bruttenholm to Hellboy and back. "Han Kyichu is the only member of my team who was aware of my beliefs regarding our discovery. He concurred with them. The legends about the Dragon Pool and the temple of the Dragon King are fairly straightforward. In fact, just before Kora was reported missing, he'd found writing within one of the excavated structures that indicated it was the actual temple of the Dragon King."
Conrad waved a dismissive hand. "Which it wasn't."
Anastasia nodded. "On that, I'm afraid Mark is correct. What we'd thought was the temple turned out to be something else entirely."
Hellboy ran a hand over his stubbly pate. "You've lost me, Stasia. There's some stuff about the legend in the case file. But gimme the short version. What are we dealing with here, and when do I get to hit it?"
She smiled wanly and went across the tent to a table upon which lay stacks of journals and thick sheaves of bound documents. Anastasia pushed a couple of them out of the way, picked up a phone-book-sized report, and flipped it open. She made as if to bring it to Hellboy, then raised an eyebrow at her folly and handed it to Professor Bruttenholm instead. She knew Hellboy wasn't good with the homework.
"In the morning, you can see the room itself. The preparatory chamber, according to Dr. Conrad, and I concur."
Hellboy threw up his hands. "Preparing for what? And whose chamber was it? Lay it out for us."
"The Dragon King Pool is an ancient legend that describes a large, turbulent lake, beneath which resided an evil dragon who caused devastation, fire, and floods, and brought misery to all those who would not serve him...and often those he had already conquered and forced into his service."
"Swell guy," Hellboy muttered.
"He was a king," Anastasia said, as if that explained it all. And, in a way, it did. "The Dragon King's subjects were forced to build a temple to worship him. He considered himself a god. Not exactly unusual back then. Every silly bugger with a bit of power fancied himself a deity. Same thing happens nowadays, they just don't let on that they've promoted themselves to godhood. Anyway, point is, the Dragon King was supposed to be huge. Many other, lesser dragons served him. And then there were the conquered people, the slaves.
"His subjects built a temple, and some kind of city around it, where they lived. We are one hundred percent certain that what we've found is the city of the Dragon King, and that Lake Tashi is the legendary Dragon Pool. But the temple is still a mystery to us. The geography doesn't suggest any buildings of the size that would be required for such a temple."
Professor Bruttenholm looked troubled. He also looked tired. Hellboy wished Anastasia would offer him a chair. Not that his father would take it.
"And this preparatory chamber?" the professor said.
"The legend states that the only way for the locals, even those who were his subjects, to placate the Dragon King was to offer him a child in sacrifice. Once a year, a child was chosen and thrown into the lake, which would churn and steam with the fire of the Dragon King. The child would never be seen again. The figures and characters on the door to the preparatory chamber referred to the sacrifice and to the temple, which made Professor Kyichu think that it was the temple itself. The saboteur caved in the entrance to the chamber, focused there, as though it was of far more importance than anything else we're excavating. And I suppose it is. Once we dug it out, Dr. Conrad discerned the true nature of the place."
Hellboy took a few steps toward his father, but Professor Bruttenholm waved him off, a stern expression on his face. He didn't like to be fussed over. Stubborn old goat, Hellboy thought.
He looked at Anastasia, Lao, and Conrad, each in turn. Nothing that had been said seemed to have fazed Lao, but Conrad kept rolling his eyes and sighing in obvious dismay that they were all speaking with such credulity about dragons and their human worshippers.
"Let's talk about this saboteur," Hellboy said. "Mr. Lao?"
The man from Beijing regarded him coolly, without speaking.
Professor Bruttenholm cleared his throat again, a reminder that he was leading the investigation. "Mr. Lao, does the Bureau have your assurance that your government is in no way involved in the sabotage of this expedition?"
Lao revealed no emotion at all. "You insult us, Professor."
"And you have my apologies. That wasn't my intention. But the question had to be asked, and answered. I take it your official answer is 'no.'"
The man from Beijing flinched, almost imperceptibly. He did not like to be pushed. "That is correct."
"Thank you," Professor Bruttenholm said.
"Okay," Hellboy began, turning the focus back to Anastasia. "What, then? You shot the guy, you said. He dived into the lake--"
"Several miles to the northwest there is a village. Nakchu. I took a small party to the village this morning to ask about Kora. I was as diplomatic as possible. Only the elder spoke, and he didn't offer his name. No one in Nakchu had seen Kora, or so he told our guide, Tenzin. But when I was there, I saw a fellow with a bright red spot on his shirt, right where I'd shot the...intruder, the night before."
"Blood."
"Probably."
"So you think he was your guy? That he took a bullet, dived into the lake, and hiked back to his village before daybreak?"
Anastasia nodded. "Yes. I do."
"Bollocks!" Dr. Conrad said. "And I suppose he was wearing some sort of monster mask every time he came into camp? The man you and Danovich and the others spotted was disfigured, Stacie, you said so yourself."