Kingdom of the Golden Dragon

The second book in Isabel Allende's young adult trilogy that began with City of the Beasts, the novel opens in the frozen peaks north of the Himalayas, where a Buddhist monk named Tensing and his disciple, Prince Dil Bahadur, make a perilous climb. Tensing is a tulku, the reincarnation of a High Lama, or senior Buddhist spiritual leader, with extraordinary psychic and physical abilities. Dil Bahadur is the young heir to the throne of the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, a small, isolated Himalayan nation. For 12 years, the prince has trained with Tensing in martial arts, Buddhist philosophy, telepathy, and the ability to read auras. Their stated purpose is to gather rare medicinal plants, though Tensing knows the journey holds deeper significance.

After stopping at Chenthan Dzong, a ruined fortified monastery, they enter the Valley of the Yetis through a sulfur-filled canyon. The valley is a warm, volcanic mesa kept habitable by fumaroles, vents that release underground heat and steam. It is home to a dying tribe of primitive, white-furred creatures led by an ancient sorceress named Grr-ympr, who recognizes the visitors as gods. When Tensing and Dil Bahadur fall ill, the prince identifies the cause: toxic minerals in the thermal water. Grr-ympr forbids its consumption, and the tribe's health improves. Before the visitors leave, Grr-ympr reveals a secret tunnel through the mountain back to the monastery.

On the other side of the world, 15-year-old Alexander Cold arrives in New York with his grandmother Kate Cold, a writer for International Geographic, after a previous adventure in the Amazon. He carries three enormous diamonds found in the jungle by his close friend Nadia Santos, a Brazilian girl. Kate has the stones appraised and establishes the Diamond Foundation with the anthropologist Ludovic Leblanc to protect Amazon tribes. Months later, International Geographic commissions Kate to write about the Kingdom of the Golden Dragon, and Alexander, now 16, convinces her to let him come along. Kate secretly arranges for Nadia to join them, along with her small black monkey, Borobá.

The group flies to India. On the plane they meet Tex Armadillo, a hired operative in his 40s with the build of a martial arts expert who claims to be seeking drugs in the Forbidden Kingdom. In New Delhi they also meet Judit Kinski, an elegant landscape architect invited by the king to introduce tulips to his country. At the Red Fort, Alexander and Nadia follow Armadillo into underground cellars and witness him meeting turbaned men bearing scorpion brands, exchanging money and studying maps. Kate's research identifies the Sect of the Scorpion, nomadic warriors whose indigo-dyed clothing permanently stains their skin blue, earning them the name Blue Warriors.

Meanwhile, the Collector, the second wealthiest man in the world, has hired a criminal operative called the Specialist to steal the Golden Dragon, an 1,800-year-old gold statue encrusted with precious stones. According to a stolen parchment, the statue can predict the future through a secret code known only to the king and his heir. The Collector believes possessing it will allow him to control the world economy.

The group flies to Tunkhala, the kingdom's capital, where the king greets Judit with an elaborate ceremony. Their guide, Wandgi, explains that the heir is chosen by purity of heart rather than birth order. Wandgi's daughter Pema befriends Nadia. During a formal audience, Judit presses the king about the statue, and his guarded response confirms it is kept in the palace.

During a festival celebrating the king's birthday, Blue Warriors kidnap Pema, Nadia, and four other girls, carrying them to a mountain cave. Nadia overhears words confirming a larger conspiracy. In the night, Borobá steals a dagger for Nadia, who cuts her bonds. Pema insists Nadia go alone for help. Using the art of invisibility she learned from the People of the Mist, an Indigenous Amazonian tribe, Nadia slips past the guard. She climbs higher but falls into a ravine, dislocates her shoulder, and sends Borobá to find Alexander before losing consciousness, projecting the image of a white eagle as a distress signal.

Tensing and Dil Bahadur spot the eagle and recognize it as a mental projection from someone in anguish. Following it, they encounter Alexander, who has tracked Borobá into the mountains. Together they find Nadia and Tensing heals her. She reports what she observed, and Alexander proposes the kidnapping was a diversion: The real target is the king and the Golden Dragon. Dil Bahadur reveals the king is his father.

In the palace, Judit has secretly planted a camera and GPS tracker in the king's royal medallion. When the king enters the Sacred Passageway to consult the statue, Tex Armadillo watches the camera feed, then leads Blue Warriors through the labyrinth using the GPS coordinates to navigate the deadly traps. They seize the drugged king and the statue, taking Judit captive as they escape.

Tensing, Dil Bahadur, and Alexander rescue the kidnapped girls in a fierce fight. Pema volunteers to lead the freed girls to safety, while the others head for the monastery. Tensing detours through the Valley of the Yetis to recruit 10 warriors, promising Grr-ympr he will return to spend six years as the tribe's leader.

At Chenthan Dzong, the king resists interrogation but privately tells Judit the code, fearing she will be tortured: The statue emits seven sounds whose combinations correspond to ideograms of the lost language of the Yetis, translated by a parchment moistened with yak milk. Armadillo bursts in and reveals that Judit is the Specialist, the criminal mastermind behind the entire operation. Her hidden devices have captured evidence identifying the Collector. Armadillo double-crosses Judit, seizes the code, and fires at her. The king, who has developed deep feelings for Judit, steps in front and takes the bullet. Nadia, who has infiltrated the monastery using her invisibility, attacks Armadillo but he overpowers her.

Tensing and the Yeti warriors storm one end of the monastery while Alexander and Dil Bahadur attack from another. Armadillo seizes Nadia as a hostage and escapes in a helicopter with the statue, but she jumps to safety in the snow. The helicopter crashes in a whirlwind between the peaks, destroying both Armadillo and the statue.

The dying king reveals to Dil Bahadur that the true oracle is not the gold statue but the black stone base with a strip of yellow quartz; the statue was merely decorative. In Tunkhala, Dil Bahadur, Alexander, and Nadia enter the Sacred Chamber, using the GPS device and camera footage to navigate the labyrinth's traps. Dil Bahadur chants before the stone in the ancient language of the Yetis. The oracle tells him his father has died, that he will be the next-to-last king, and that he will marry Pema and have a son who will be the final monarch.

Pema leads the rescued girls to safety, and General Myar Kunglung, the kingdom's military commander, sends soldiers who capture the fleeing Blue Warriors. The king is cremated, and Dil Bahadur assumes the throne with Pema at his side. Judit, found nearly dead from frostbite, is sentenced not to prison but to a remote monastery for life, fulfilling the late king's dying wish. Tensing departs for the Valley of the Yetis. Kate uses Judit's secret recordings to blackmail the Collector into funding a replacement gold statue, to be displayed publicly for the first time in the kingdom's history. Kate vows never to travel with Alexander and Nadia again, but the two friends silently resolve to join her next assignment regardless.