7 Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Sitting in a small room on the ground floor of the hotel where a smoking samovar was the only source of heat in the room, the conversation was directed towards the experiences of the Siberian shaman related to the purpose of the expedition. With his usual naivety, Jack asked directly.

“Aman, what should we look for? Where can we find it? How shall we know that we have found it once we do?"

Bodniev shifted uneasily in the chair he had sat on, which was otherwise too small for his body. He looked at his companions, still narrowing his slanted eyes that formed into two lines, gave a snort and began to speak in a slow voice. His English was heavy but clear and the coherent speech showed a reflection behind him.

“I am afraid that I will not be able to answer all your questions to your satisfaction, not because of any desire to hide where we are going, since I understand the concern you surely have about our immediate destiny and the questions about the dangers that we can face in our search . The truth is that I ignore most of the answers and that the source of my visions does not follow a rational path. They are not formal thoughts spun like beads in a necklace, nor logical deductions from clear premises, but rather blinks, flashes that refer to issues that I can sometimes associate with facts of reality and other times not."

"And in this case?" asked Debbie with a certain urgency. A little regretful of her impulse she looked at her boyfriend who secretly made a gesture that she interpreted as not losing patience. The Russian continued with his unshakable voice.

“The theme of the "Bloody Baron" as Ungern von Sternberg is known in these places for the blood he shed and the treasure of the Mongols that he ordered to be protected and whose trail was lost, is an issue that comes to my mind in a recurring way, so I know perfectly well when one of those flashes that appears in my visions refers to those issues. That´s the way it happened before I made contact with Bluthund, so I know that my current sights refer to Ungern and his treasure."

With slow movements Bodniev removed a paper from his bag and began to unfold it carefully, revealing a wide map with annotations written in the Cyrillic alphabet. Then he went to a nearby table and placed the map on it, which occupied it almost completely. Then he extracted from the same bag a strange artifact, consisting of a metal spindle with a sharp point and a cord at the opposite end.

"This is a radiesthesia pendulum, like those used by dowsers, to locate springs of water, metal veins ... and so they say, treasures." Dennis clarified in a low voice to a distrustful Deborah.

The Russian turned around facing his companions and scrutinized them patiently, then said softly to Selma.

“You, girl, would you like to come over please?"

The girl looked a little fearful at her sister and then at Dennis, who gave her an almost imperceptible nod with his head. She took several steps to reach the table and looked at the inscrutable map, while the others approached her in what represented a moral support. Bodniev offered her the pendulum and once again the girl hesitated.

“Take it, it will not bite you.” Said Jack, who had remained silent until then. Selma took the instrument from the opposite end of the spindle, unfolding the string about fifty centimeters long.

“Now pass it slowly over the map, sweeping from left to right and vice versa.” indicated the Siberian.

The girl began to perform the task that had been entrusted to her starting at her discretion from the upper left to the right and returning in the opposite direction to reach the other end of the map.

“Very well, do it very slowly.” Said the Russian in a deep voice.

Once she had gained confidence Selma moved the instrument through the chart neatly with gentle movements. Debbie whispered in her boyfriend's ear.

“ All this is ridiculous; I do not know what you expect. We are losing our time."

“Shhh.” It was the only answer.

Selma had already passed the pendulum for more than half of the map and felt that her arm was getting tired.

“You can change arm if you want, continuing from the same point.” said Bodniev.

The young woman did so and continued her slow scanning with her left hand. A smile enigmatically appeared on her lips and suddenly the pendulum produced a strong and unexpected swing surprising everyone, starting with Selma. From there the movement continued with a gentle swing while the Siberian said in a firm voice.

“Stop there.” Then he turned around and looked at all present.

“The girl has detected the same place on the map that I found in my repeated tests."

“Can I mark the place on the map? “ Martín asked Bodniev.

“Do it."

The young man took out a thin pencil from a kind of school tool bag he carried and approached. Then he asked Selma.

“ Lower the tip a little more, until it is almost in contact with the paper, so as not to make parallax errors."

The young woman did so and Martín made an X on the paper

"How far is that point from our current location?" Dennis asked the Russian.

“Some 755 miles south-southwest.

“Can I do some checks?" Martín asked again.

“Of course."

Then the boy took out of the bag of surprises a short plastic rule with a transporter.

“First I will orient the map.” He said while activating the application of a precision compass on his cell phone. He turned the map on the table until it was oriented according to the compass rose, divided into 32 directions. Then he asked the Russian, indicating a segment at the bottom of the map, written in Russian.

“ Is this the scale?"

“Yes."

“ And where is the station in which we are now?"

Bodniev marked a point written in Russian.

“Let's see what the engineer says.” Dennis expressed in Debbie's ear.

Martín measured the distance in centimeters between both points. Then he marked the icon of the calculator on the cell phone and entered some values.

“The distance is approximately 750 miles indeed.” He said. “And the direction is, also very roughly, south-southwest.”

"Is this the direction in which according to the previously existing data the treasure should be found?" Jack asked.

“Decidedly not.” replied the Russian.” Everyone has looked for it some 70 miles further west."

"And do you have any idea of where this discrepancy can originate?" asked Dennis.

Bodniev turned and looked at him meditatively.

“In one of my visions, of those flashes I was talking about, the men sent by Baron Ungern suffered the onslaught of one of the tremendous winds that blow in the Gobi Desert, with speeds of up to 170 miles per hour, which produce the blasting of soils, a fact that prevents agriculture in its entirety. Travelers are bombarded by sand and particles of all sizes. In my vision the Russians and Mongols were completely disoriented so it is no wonder that they have given wrong locations of the place where they deposited the treasure."

Jack had been intrigued by the whole recent episode so he approached the Siberian and asked him in a low voice.

“Have you chosen Selma at random or did you have any reason to select her?"

Bodniev nodded and replied enigmatically.

"The girl has powers of which she is not yet aware, I can easily sense it. It is a treasure that must be recognized and developed."

“What would have happened if any of the rest of us had used in pendulum?"

“It would not have moved when going through that point."

“ How do you explain that?"

“The sensitivity is not in the instrument but in who uses it. The real sensor is the dowser, not the device."

“ Does that mean that Selma is ... a clairvoyant?"

“It means that it is equipped to be. To become one, she must make an effort, under the proper guidance."

The American withdrew in silence thinking about the unexpected confession of the shaman and meditating how he could transmit it to his friends.

They had gathered at a table with meat dishes purchased at the hotel. At an offer from Jack the Russian answered.

“No, thanks, I have not tried vodka for decades."

“Well, we'll settle for cold tea…"

The snack was silent, since everyone had a delayed appetite. After a while, and as if to prove that this hunger had been satisfied, Dennis asked.

“Well, what happens now?"

"Didn´t Bluthund's members give you directions?" Bodniev answered with another question.

“ I have requested them before leaving for here.” added Jack. "But in the end what they answered is that you would give us more details."

“Well, during the course of this morning we will be picked up by some Mongols in three all-terrain vehicles, suitable for the desert that we have to cross. I do not know how many people will come."

“What will be the function of these people?" Debbie intervened in the conversation.

“Varied. They will serve as guarantors to the Mongolian or Chinese authorities we might meet, they will be interpreters, guides in the desert and ... escorts."

"Escorts?" Selma asked with a frown. "Like guardians?"

“That´s right. They will also help us with the excavations that we will eventually have to do."

“ Will they be armed?" inquired Martín.

“Of course."

“Do we need armed guards? “ Selma insisted.

“The territories we are going to cover are far from any town, security forces or source of any formal authority. Often there are attacks and looting of the caravans or isolated travelers who cross these solitudes, and many disappear without leaving traces. If the means of transportation in the desert is taken away from you, it is very unlikely that you will be able to survive hunger, thirst and nighttime cold."

“Decidedly I prefer to be protected by armed guards ... as long as they are trustworthy.” Martín argued sensibly.

“I do not know them personally.” Bodniev finally said. “But I do trust the people who recommended them to me."

A silence spread among the members of the group, who were undoubtedly internalizing for the first time the reality of the dangers that awaited them.

Nothing happened during that afternoon and just in the mid-morning of the following day three vehicles of unreliable appearance appeared in the corner of the hotel. One of them was a dilapidated Russian truck in which they would load the necessary equipment to establish camps, the implements to carry out excavations, the provisions and any type of load that they could obtain in their searches; it was manned by two Mongolian drivers and carried into the box four other fierce-looking men, undoubtedly responsible for providing security to the expedition. The other two vehicles were Chinese four-wheel drive utilitarian cars suitable for transporting passengers which looked equally battered, with one driver each. One of them was led by a Mongol named Batbayar who would be the official guide of the contingent in the Gobi Desert. This man spoke Russian so that he could communicate with Aman Bodniev, and additionally spoke a little English, who knows for what reason. His temper was gentle -not very frequent in Mongolia- which contrasted with his fierce appearance. As that vehicle would lead the caravan Bodniev, Jack Berglund and Dennis would be travelling in it, so it was something like the flagship of the convoy, and the decisions about the directions to take would be made in it.

The other SUV was guided by a driver of youthful appearance and slim body whose hairless face could barely be seen under the Mongol cap. Debbie, Selma and Martín climbed into this car and settled down, sitting the former in the passenger seat and the two young people in the back seat. By the tension of the moment everyone remained silent.

Once they had made sure that all the members were aboard one of the three vehicles and that all the elements had been stored in them, the guide called Batbayar, whose window was open, took his arm out of it and with his fist hit the door giving the signal to leave; the signal was answered by the drivers of the other two vehicles confirming having received the order.

And that's how the journey began in the Gobi Desert and with it the active part of the expedition, releasing large doses of adrenaline in the members, each of whom expressed in a low voice a prayer of various religions and expressed in different languages.