Thief of Time - Remember

'Really? Who are you, then?'

'The Monks of History.'

'Huh? I've never heard of you!'

'See? That's how good we are.'

And that was how good they were. And then the time had just flown past.

And now the present came back.

'Are you all right, lad?' Lobsang opened his eyes. His arm felt as though it was being wrenched off his body. He looked up along the length of the arm to Lu-Tze, who was lying flat on the swaying bridge, holding him.

'What happened?'

'I think maybe you were overcome with the excitement, lad. Or vertigo, maybe. Just don't look down.' There was a roaring below Lobsang, like a swarm of very angry bees. Automatically, he began to turn his head. 'I said don't look down! Just relax.'

Lu-Tze got to his feet. He raised Lobsang, at arm's length, as though he was a feather, until the boy's sandals were over the wood of the bridge. Below, monks were running along the walkways and shouting.

'Now, keep your eyes shut... don't look down! ... and I'll just walk us both to the far side, all right?'

'I, er, I remembered... back in the city, when Soto found me... I remembered...' said Lobsang weakly, tottering along behind the monk.

'Only to be expected,' said Lu-Tze, 'in the circumstances.'

'But, but I remember that back then I remembered about being here. You and the Mandala!'

'Is it not written in the sacred text, “There's a lot goes on we don't know about, in my opinion”?' said Lu-Tze.

***

The Thief of Time - p64-65