The others arrived on the scene. As all present were privy to the secret of the Tsarevich's condition, Bart shared with them the significance of his discovery. The Living Buddha lifted his arms toward Heaven, repeating sacred mantras of thanksgiving.
"This is wonderful, Uncle Bart," said Brad, "but what about the Golden City? Isn't that also part of the answer? Alexis believes in it with all his heart. He commissioned Rebel to find it."
Romelle looked around. "Say, where is Rebel?"
"Maybe he didn't like the smell and went back down," Brad suggested.
"Rebel!" she called.
The dog did not respond.
Chavadzy went over to the wall of the escarpment and touched it.
"Solid rock," he observed. "This is the end of the trail."
"Perhaps not," Dash said. "Behold!" He pointed to the far side of the promontory.
Once again, as he had when he first found the cliff, Rebel peered back at them, then disappeared. Within seconds, he returned and looked at them again. He whined.
"He wants us to come," interpreted Romelle.
The wall Chavadzy had touched proved to be a natural curtain of stone concealing a narrow horizontal passage into the face of the escarpment.
They saw the dog ahead, waiting, standing quite still at what appeared to be the crest of the walkway.
"Wait, I go first!" Chavdzy commanded, removing a pistol from his belt.
They watched him go to Rebel's side and look around. He fumbled in his pocket and extracted a match, disappearing briefly from view. Following an explosion of light, he returned.
"There are torch sconces on the walls. The resin is old and dry, but still ignites. Come! I will light more."
 They entered a vaulted cavern, freezingly cold. Romelle shivered, as did the others, but it did not occur to them to go back. They came out on a ledge a few meters above a broad grotto revealed by the light from the sconces Chavadzy lit.
Cries of wonder issued from them all as they surveyed the incredible scene.
 They stood above a miniature metropolis shimmering with palaces of jade roofed with sheets of gold. The ivory faces of ladies with jewels in their hair peered from glass windows. Gardens sprouted green jade trees that fruited ruby pomegranates, emerald limes, and topaz pears. Cinnabar pavilions and temples of white jade graced chrysolite islands rising from enameled lakes of blue cloisonné. Caravans of ivory camels laden with cargoes of gemstones entered through the tiny city's pagoda-eaved gates. Few of the buildings stood higher than Rebel himself.
The dog led the way down stairs carved from stone.
Dash followed him through the gold-paved boulevards to a chrysolite hill in the middle of a large lake. He took up a position next to a white pagoda in the circular Tibetan style, which came to his waist. Most other pagodas in the miniature city were hexagonal or octagonal in the Chinese style, with multiple tiers projecting in gracefully curved eaves.
He spread his arms wide.
"So the legend is indeed true!" he declaimed. "The Golden City exists! For years I have studied ancient documents stored in the Marco Polo Library which recount various aspects of this tale. Not until today, when I see it, am I able to piece them all together. It is a story both wonderful and ghastly. The Manchus have known it, too, from documents written by Marco Polo as reports to Kublai Khan. Apparently, his letters were hidden in various places in the Forbidden City and have been found piecemeal, so that they know of the ruby, but not of its purpose. They know of the Golden City, but not where it is. I shall tell you all about it someday."
"Oh, tell us now, please!" begged Romelle.
"Very well," Dash replied, "I will tell it as briefly as I can. We stand in Cambuluc, the capital of Kublai Khan, which we now call Peking. The original city was destroyed in 1215 A.D. when the hordes of his grandfather, Jenghiz, conquered Cathay. Forty-five years later, Kublai rebuilt on the ruins and called it Cambuluc. It was the greatest city in the world, and from it Kublai ruled the largest empire ever controlled by one man since the dawn of time.
"What we see is his architectural model for the city, Kublai's golden dream which was later translated into marble and stone. He chose to secrete this fabulous treasure in his native land, not only to protect it for his people, but also to honor his mother, a Nestorian Christian, the Princess Sorghaktani."
"Yes!" Brad exclaimed. "Alexis told us she rules here even today!"
Dash smiled strangely. "In a manner of speaking, she does. That is where the tale becomes ghastly. When she died, Marco Polo brought her body to Dragon's Heart, which was still a Nestorian monastery and church. He came with an entourage including four handsome boys and four exquisitely beautiful girls. These eight had been selected from the most exalted families in China to accompany the lady to Heaven.
"The young people were ceremonially murdered. They were forced to drink mercury mixed with herbs, which killed them quickly, but left a freshness of skin and color that made them appear to be alive for many days after death. Then, the military escort Kublai had sent with the body threw the monks and priests of Dragon's Heart from the Grand Terrace. Kublai believed they would ease his mother's passage into Heaven. He turned over the valley to the Lamaist faith. The monastery became a lamasery. The church became a temple. The Black Madonna became Tara.
"Next, an extraordinary event occurred. The ruby was sent from Tibet to serve as Tara's Seventh Eye. It was installed according to astral calculations, of which the records remain. Lo, the ruby ray issued forth, and marked the very spot where Kublai had secreted the Golden City! He interpreted it as a sign of vengeance from the Christian God for the murder of the monks and priests. The ruby was taken from the statue and placed in the care of the High Lamas of the temple, who passed it from one generation to the next until it came into the hands of my father."
Bart spoke out. "Forgive my interruption, Dash, but I should tell them this part."
Dash nodded.
"I was given the ruby because the High Lama had been secretly informed that Old Buddha, the Empress Dowager of China, had discovered some of Marco Polo's letters in the Forbidden City," Bart explained. "She thus knew of the ruby's importance to the Mongolian people. She established an entire network of spies dedicated to its retrieval. She thought it would give China perpetual control of this country. We did not know that her network extended even to Europe. I had fallen under suspicion as Dash's friend. This is how the curse of the ruby entered our lives. This is why Ardie...Philo....."
He covered his eyes with his hand. Romelle and Brad went to him simultaneously to embrace him and give him comfort.
"The Christian queen, Kublai's mother, where is she?" Chavadzy wondered.
"She rules this city, as the legend says," replied Dash. "Come, all of you. I shall introduce you to her."
Perplexed, they approached the lake where he stood.
"Hey, this lake is not made of cloisonné like the others!" Bradley exclaimed, "This one is real, but it's frozen!"
Romelle went toward him, looking down at the ice so as not to slip. What she saw made her shriek. She tossed her flambeau into the air and was saved from crashing to the ice by Dayan.
Dash was chagrined.
"Forgive me, Madame," he apologized. "I should have warned you."
Catching her breath, she waved the apology aside. "I should be used to such things by now."
Beneath Romelle's feet, buried in the ice, lay an exquisitely robed old woman, her mummified face set in a peaceful smile. A diadem of rubies glowed against her silver hair. Hands crossed on her breast were bound by a rosary of bone beads to a silver figure of Jesus fused to a golden crucifix. Near her rested the lifelike remains of her sacrificed attendants, all of them dead for nearly seven hundred years.
"There are many such grottoes of perennial ice in the Yablonovy Range," Dash explained. "Prehistoric mammoths have been found in them with their flesh still edible. The Scythians, an ancient people of the Russian steppes, are known to have used such a method of burying their dead. Their remains have been found in an astonishing state of preservation. The entire Golden City stands on an eternally frozen lake."
"But how is the Golden City connected to the future of the Mongolian people?" asked Romelle. "Why does it hold the key to your independence?"
"A modern country needs cash reserves," Dayan answered. "We are looking at the foundation of the state treasury of the future Mongolian Republic. On the basis of the international gold standard, there is enough precious metal in this chamber to allow us an accountable place in the world, not including the fortune in ivory and jewels."
"Let me close this tale with the promise the legend makes," Dash intoned. "Within seven months of the Seventh Eye's vision which has led us to the Golden City, the Manchu yoke will fall. Mongolia will be free!"
"Well," Brad judged, "I guess the rest is in the hands of the Phantom General. He has until the end of November."
"Not only he," said Dash, "but others like him. The Prince of Hanta and other leaders are marshaling their forces in secret. And when we are free, there stands the leader of our land."
He gestured toward the Living Buddha, who acknowledged them with a smile.
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