Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #13 April 2015 | Page 39
In an age of gentleman adventurers, studious researchers and roguish archaeologists some of the greatest
treasures are found not by luck but by following the
vaguest of clues, the slightest of hints and the oldest
of maps. Rumours and myths are a staple and every
treasure seeker must be aware of all and every means
that will lead them to that long lost fortune of gold and
gems.
One such story that had spread across Europe and had
been whispered by gossips and rumour mongers was
of an explorer from China who had ventured into the
mountains of Tibet seeking ancient treasures hidden to
avoid a war centuries ago and now long lost.
This man explored far and wide, risking death from
the cold and the mountain heights.
Then one day he staggered into a village tavern and
collapsed in front of the gathered locals. He was barely alive and while the locals and a handful of westerners stood and listened he spoke haltingly of his quest.
Then he died and was buried in a nameless grave
beside the mountains he had crossed again and again.
His last words have been repeated many times over
the years, many have tried to follow in his footsteps to
find the cave he spoke of but it has never been found.
He told of his final days, of his finding of a cave deep
within a valley, a cave of great crystals. He spoke of
guardian dragons and demons of cold in the mists. He
said that he took one of the crystals and tried to make
his way back down the mountains but he became lost
and finally too cold and tired to continue. He said that
he sheltered among the bones of a dragon, a great
horned beast with a curtain of bone at the back of its
skull. He said that he thought he would die so he took
a stone and scratched a map with the path to the cave
of crystals; the route was recorded on the bones of a
dragon.
That was all he said, he died soon afterwards without
saying any more.
Now this would be nothing more than an interesting
story were it not for that fact that on his body was
found the crystal he spoke of. But it was no crystal,
it was an uncut diamond of great size and worth a
fortune.
A cave full of such diamonds could buy a small
country or make the man that found it wealthy beyond
measure. So many had looked and some had died but
all who survived returned empty handed. So over the
years people stopped looking and the story became
just another myth.
Until the London Post ran a story about an archaeologist who was returning to England from Tibet, the
man had discovered several dinosaurs, remarkably
intact specimens of a size and type seldom found. His
PAGE 39