\"Karma of the Sun\" audiobook
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Note: Transcripts are generated using speech recognition software and may contain errors.
Karma knows it is a bad omen. He feels it in his body. A sudden chill in the summer air, a passing shadow in the white Tibetan sky. A hush in the rustle of the yellow grasses. One moment, the yak calf had been with the herd. Now it is gone. The gift for the shaman on his visit, the benefaction they're offering missing Karma hastens frantically up the rise, climbing hill in June as he searches the little boy beside him, scampering to keep up three little steps for every one of his bad omen. Bad luck. This day of all days, the shaman was to arrive at the village tonight. Soon the fathers of the valley would bring their sons and the mothers, their daughters to have their fortunes. Told the spirits consulted. It had been Karma's turn to graze the herd his lot, his fate, his fault. Karma's heart pounds as he scales the last hill. The tattered prayer flags of the village outskirts come into view, trembling slightly in the uneven wind. They had been placed here purposely auspiciously adorning the rusted ruins of the iron wreckage said to have once been able to fly a stupa to a miracle of the time before the suns. Now, the cloth images of the four dignities float like ghosts against the sinking of the western sun. The snow lion, the tiger, the phoenix and the dragon chained to the east, south west and north. An incongruous form catches the corner of Karzai white fur. No movement except for the fluttering of a few woolen strands. His heart plummets before he can even fully comprehend what he is seeing. He already knows it is something terrible. The caling it lies on its side a few paces further and Karma flinch at the site of the animal's belly. A large hole gapes from sternum to flank. A jumble of intestines bulge out like a heap of spilled rope from a sack. The ground is a patch of blood so dark, it looks black. Karma is paralyzed at the shock of the sight as if it were his own lifeblood drained to the earth only hours ago. It had been alive and with the herd now it is a bloody carcass, viscera baking in the sun. What happened? A boy's voice gasps behind him. Karma startles. It is his little cousin, Lobsang. Karma moves to shield the boy from the site but the child is too far out of reach or perhaps it is only Karma's legs that are too numb. It was probably wolves. Karma mumbles, maybe a pack of them or something. His voice trails true. There had been more sightings of wild animals. But his instinct was that this was something else. None of the meat had been touched. The yak was a calf but by no means small, looking at the sheer size of the wound, nothing on four legs could have done damage. That looked like this. A swarm of horse flies buzzes fiercely as if to defend their quarry. A feeling comes over him even more fearful than before. He had been afraid for the yack. But now that he found it, he is afraid for the village.