Hayden
"What's the situation?" Shourya asked. His tall intimidating posture, on observing from the ground level, seemed impatient and peevish. Behind him, the Rawat's palace loomed large, austere and forbidding with the red flag at the top waving in the direction of rapidly flying creatures.
Another sturdy man facing Shourya, dressed as same as in black robes, stood backlit by the moon peeking from a small clearing in the cloudy sky. Both of them appeared grave in manner and disposition. "Shashi's sending out a search party to find you," said the man. "He's debating with himself whether to kill you or torture you for the rest of your life."
"So he already thinks that I contrived to keep the Pride hidden."
"Well...did you?"
"How much time do I have?" Shourya quickly asked.
"Can't say," the man replied, tone a bit sympathetic. "Just consider every minute precious. Shourya, you're unnecessarily making your life a rolling dice. Perhaps you should go back to Shashi and have an understanding."
"Shashi's stoned out of his mind to complete the ritual, now that every Third-Eye is within his reach, can't you see? He's not going to spare me anymore." He tightened his fists turning away. A strong blast of howling wind blew past him, rustling the fur on his jacket. "I thought I had put myself on a pedestal when I'd helped him break into the High King's depository."
"I don't get it," the man said. "You helped him gain one and snatched away the other. Why? And what did you accomplish?"
Shourya paused. "Whoever has found a way to have the Pride hidden knows very well that Shashi will not be able to perform the ritual if at least one of the Third-Eyes is missing. He needs to bind all five of them together. Haimavati Roksana's talents were profound after all. Look, I will take care of keeping myself alive. But you...you need to make sure our clan's safe and well until Pruthvi Krishna takes over. I will come to check on you every time I get a chance. Understand?"
The man nodded.
Sssss...
The two men shot their heads down taking a step back and staring pop-eyed at the ground as though staring right through the screen. The colors of the screen shimmered, went white for about a beat, and new colors gradually resurfaced. The scene had shifted.
"Did you hear that?" A woman's voice rang out, her profile completely hidden behind Shourya's tall, broad body standing by a large trunk of a tree. "It sounded like a snake."
The afternoon weather seemed overcast and somewhat dismal, with thick snow falling fast. A few curled-up fallen leaves and fluffy snowflakes cloaked the sides of the picture making the scenario rather clumsy. It needed a great deal of imagination to know in which part of the forest the two people were having a meeting and striking up the conversation.
"Forget about that. Must be wind," said Shourya, his voice lacking the customary shrewdness. "Tell me, what did you find out?"
"Shashi's planning to change the location of the tomb," she said hurriedly. "It's not going to be in the Sherwood Forest anymore. And certainly not in Dakshinpur."
Shourya leaned against the trunk of the tree. "When do you suppose he's planning to do that?"
"As soon as he figures where the Pride is. Shourya listens, Shashi wants to establish quite a few tombs and hide them in different locations. And one of them may or may not be consisting the casket securing his original body."
"To cause more confusion to the Samagraha."
"Also, to buy more time. But for it, he needs the Pride first. He needs to blast off his own casket. He already guesses that you may have given it to Hayden Mackay on Nazira Khan's say. Shourya, is it true?"
"Not true, alright?" he said quickly. "Now tell me, what else is he planning?"
"He's going to capture Samagraha sooner than later. He's only waiting for the right moment to carefully trap the bait."
Shourya paused. "And immediately start the ritual?"
"If not to torment them like those poor youngsters in the dorm. Shourya, they are in very bad condition. They will die if nobody comes to their aid soon."
"Who doesn't?" Shourya said. "Shashi has been killing people, especially women, nonstop. But if Hayden and others get captured it's a done deal. Shashi will be an unbeatable force this country cannot afford. Samagraha needs to be warned somehow." He paused again, presumably looking down and pondering. "Anything else?" He asked, but the woman did not reply. "Thanks for the information. I'll meet you again in the same place next week. Goodbye."
Shourya walked past the trunk and the screen moved with him, behind him, in a zig-zag manner in an attempt to record the hurried movement of his legs and speed of his gait, He hurdled past the snow, fallen barks, and arid grass. Some distance away the entire screen whisked back when a bright light emerged and obscured the scenario.
Colors refreshed and reformed. Not literally though. It was all dark and eerily silent, except the occasional swish and screech of the creatures. The picture motioned in further, zigzagging and it captured a silent Shourya. Alone and alert. He was crouched amidst the dry grass, sneaking around the spaces between them, behind a little shrubbery covered with a thick stack of snow. He kept low, staring at the...apartments! Shourya had been lurking behind the bushes, spying on us.
He crouch-walked a bit closer, and there I was talking to Pruthvi and Celina. Shourya sank back when the three of us went on to practice flying on the new carpets. A few minutes later Ashwant arrived and I was engaged in conversation with him. Together, we headed inside the apartment. Pruthvi and Celina landed back on the ground. They had a quick talk. Pruthvi opened the Gates, and both of them jumped right through it. That was the day when they had gone to Paschimgarh to help migrate people to an underground bunker.
Shourya snorted in annoyance. It was strange watching him being anxiously watchful and deliberating whether or not to risk showing himself. Shourya was scared.
Tyrell and Leena came into sight. They stood on the porch, chatting and pointing fingers at the creatures above. The premise seemed rather quiet. Shourya gasped. He steadied himself to take action. He was about to make a move when Tyrell and Leena flew up in the air and practiced flying on carpets. They kept flying and engaged in fighting, hurling water and lightning formations at each other. Leena put herself out creating a water monster. A few minutes later a knight of the Sharad appeared, evidently to patrol. "Dammit!" Shourya cursed and turned around.
The colors faded.
The process repeated quite a couple of times, and day after day, I noticed the changes in the dark areas that were the suitable hiding places. Shourya had been prying around Sharad's palace but could not find a better time to show himself. "They are never alone," he grumbled, and that made me wonder about what must have been going on in his mind. Why the skepticism? How many times had he appeared in front of us like a spark and given away tips and secrets of potential threats? Are you really scared for your life, Shourya?
The Drishtika Messenger closed.
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Shourya sat on his knees, hunched, and poked the fire logs with the tongs. The sparks fizzed and crackled, the flames sending warmth around the secret dorm. It was colder down here, inside one of the Rawat's secret rooms, when it should be relatively warmer. It showed in the way he rubbed his hands and blew into them. The way he hugged and squeezed himself into his ridiculous black winter clothing. He put a glass tumbler beside the fireplace, checked its temperature by tapping it on its sides, and drank the contents of it.
"Damn this weather," he grumbled, and sighed out loud, placing the jar away.
He then hauled himself towards the mattress placed on the floor. Pulled a bag from the corner, and began stuffing his clothes into it. He stopped midway, fiddling with the garment, and stared up blankly at the wall. His shoulders slumped down. "She did warm me that you'll come looking for me," he said, his voice a grave croak.
"You and her," I said, standing in the shadows, leaning against the wall beside the staircase. "What a terrific duo of traitors. Shashi certainly should be pondering whether or not to dump you both."
He dropped the garment on the mattress, stood back up turning around, looking grim and worried. "And you did find me before Shashi could."
I took a step closer, getting into the light of the lantern hanging from the deck beam. "In your own home, imagine that."
"I wasn't really trying to run away."
I raised my brows and pointedly looked aside at the bag full of clothing.
He sighed. "That's just preparation. Look, Hayden, I can explain."
"Save it," I said, walking aside towards the fire logs, a thick stack of particles on the floor crunching beneath my feet. "There's no need to waste your time proving how innocent you are. Nor do I have the time to know about why you haven't been able to pull up the guts to meet me in the past four days you've spent spying on me."
His eyes went wide and quickly narrowed. "I haven't been spying."
"Really Shourya?" I said, crouching down to pick up a fine number of logs. "A brilliant mind like yours cannot decipher that if you can have your ways to sneak around then I can have mine?"
He silently watched me walk back towards the staircase. I dropped the logs off on the threads, filling up the gap and instantly firing them up. The flames enlarged barely touching the sloping rooftop, just as the way I wanted it to. The room lit up with much more gold and orange flares. "Any more secrets door to escape?"
He swallowed. "No."
"Perfect," I asked and strolled over to him to stand face to face.
He took a deep breath. "Am I in trouble?"
"Not yet," I said, looking around at the secret room. Not much had changed since the last time I'd been here. "But as usual, it will depend on the way you behave with me. I look forward to knowing the information that I'm guessing she must have shared only with you. All you have to do is answer me correctly. Let's get to that, shall we?"
He blinked, the amber eyes brightening with the slight moisture and the reflection of the ruddy flames. "What do you want to know?"
"Before I ask, let me tell you this. I still trust you. And I'm thankful to be able to call you one of my friends. Everything she did was to keep you safe from Shashi and I've acknowledged her fondness for you..."
"I cannot lie to you," he interrupted, understanding my point. "You got to trust me better. I earnestly consider you as my king. You're my last hope after King Harsh abandoned me and my kind."
"That's the idea," I said. "But tonight will be your last chance to prove your allegiance to me. If I found out that you went behind my back once again, I will not be standing in front of you as a friend next time. Do not expect me to endorse your confused state of self-containment anymore. You need my help, you follow my rules. That's how it goes."
The muscles in his face slackened. "Understood."
"I know she struck a deal with Shashi," I said. "That she created some kind of a diversion that saved the country from getting fried up. Talk to me about it. Give me every detail."
"A three-way call, with no settlement," he said, clasping his hands behind his back. "When I told her that Shashi had raised the price for breaking the magic laid on me, she assumed that he needed the Pride to destroy it, to save himself from death once and for all. So, she created a fake dagger and handed that over to him. And the original one to where it belongs. Only after realizing that the magic is broken, she began to take charge of the situation. She demanded not to use the creatures against the country, and in turn, she promised not to lend the Pride to Celina. Since that would let him continue to live an immortal life. But if he refused, she threatened to give the Pride back to Celina, and help her instead to put him to death."
I tilted my head. "Clearly, he accepted."
"Yes. And with that, the creatures are now in a constant state of stalemate. Shashi Thribhuvan lives on but does not get a chance to seek the Samagraha power. Cent percent survival rate, letting neither of the parties wins or lose."
"The standoff," I smiled and applauded her adeptness more than I could put into words. "The Pride is one of the Third Eyes, isn't it?"
He gaped. "You know about the Third Eye?"
"My thousand-year-old Constellia for a friend did mention the existence of such things. And that it is because they were being brought to this world Haimavati had to murder Lady Chandrika. Other than that I know nothing about them. Singh is inexperienced in this area, but Nazira seemed to have shared the knowledge with you. Tell me, what's a Third-Eye?"
"Each Samaratna consists of two interlinking vital forces, namely the Eyes, in the form of a Samagraha and a Constellia. Lady Chandrika had first meant to establish her power over the dark magic users in this manner. However, later on, for the reasons best known to her, she dedicated her entire life to creating a Third-Eye for each stone. Her first-hand research began and ended with the stones of the Formation Samagraha only."
"The purpose will be?"
"Basically, the five Third-Eyes help pass down the famous abilities chosen by the Firsts. The powers of the Third-Eyes reassume the day the Samagraha are chosen and get suspended with their death. Also, a Third-Eye is meant to be the reason for its associated Samagraha's death."
His last statement sent a ripple of discomfort in me. "History is meant to repeat, after all."
"Your well-wishers are jumping through hoops to make it certain that it doesn't."
It wasn't hard to judge his indication as much as his expressionless face. "What has this got anything to do with Shashi?"
"You were right earlier. The Pride is one of the Third Eyes. The complex magic that has been used to pass down the abilities, makes a Third-Eye also a key to open the Molten Vault."
My eyes tingled. "What the hell is the Molten Vault?"
"It's a most venerable vault, hidden somewhere in the middle of Uilani and Selvyn Hill. A vault guarded by Agnidaanav since Shashi began terrorizing the country. The location comes under the Rawat dynasty mainly, and the ancestral kings of Dakshinpur had forbidden people from visiting. Later the High Kings has taken over the possession and the prohibition from entry to this area still stands. This vault is dependent on such careful measurements since it is believed that it stores the ancient divine power that shouldn't be meddled with and has been left and consigned to oblivion for centuries."
"So, what now? Shashi wants to release the power for his own good?"
"Shashi needs the Third-Eyes, that's apparent, for the certain kind of ritual that he keeps talking about. And in my previous research, it was proved that he wants to unlock this tremendous power as a part of the ritual to gain Samagraha power."
I sighed in a half-frustrated and half-nervous way. Shashi, a brilliant dark magic user was like a fish in a sea thirsty for more water. Like a sand collector seeking bags of sand in a desert. The image of Tyrell saying- the man is power-crazy loaded in my mind. "Did Nazira tell you this?"
"She only told me about the five Third-eyes and the impact they cause on the life of the Samagraha. Nothing at all about them being the keys of the vault though. No one, not even her could have perceived that Shashi might go to such great lengths to release this power into this country."
My breath started to turn hot. "What is this power? And why shouldn't it be released? What are the effects of it?"
"I...don't know," he said, his voice lowering. "Most people aren't even aware of the existence of the place called Molten Vault. Even if I go around and ask, it would be only considered myth and nonsense. Only Nazira can give us an answer. And I'm ready to take you to her."
"Of course, you will," I said. "We're not simply parting ways after we're done with this discussion. Tell me, what else do you know about the Third-Eyes."
"That it took Lady Chandrika her entire life to create such artifices, and also the magic that supported passing down the abilities with them. One of which had to be created only after her death. Haimavati finished the task for her."
"That should be the Maiden's Cup."
He stared at me for several beats. "Yes."
"And you helped Shashi find the cup."
He dropped his eyes to the floor. "Yes."
"Is the Shaatrumani Stone another Third-Eye?"
"Yes."
"What about Emerald?"
He bit his lower lip before saying, "Did Shashi abduct you?"
"He did. Thanks for warning me by the way."
He snorted. "Did he seize anything that belongs to the Emerald user?"
My jaw tightened. "Do not tell me it's Emerald itself."
"If he got it secured in the place where even the Constellia cannot track it down, and seeing that Pruthvi Krishna is still alive, then it is indeed the Third-Eye. Shashi's only one step away from releasing the power, Hayden. Please, do not lose the Pride."
The Samagraha possessing the double kinetic power possessed the stone with double the greatness and extensiveness. If this did not put too much pressure on my friend then what else could? The fact that Shashi would not dare to stab the Emerald with the Shaatrumani did not give me a sense of relief. Restless energy bunched the nerves in my stomach now that I'd deciphered what Shashi had been planning all the while and the reason for him being desperate for the last Third-Eye. The power stored in the vault, what kind of fresh new mess this country might get into, if we failed to put Shashi six feet under as soon as possible.
The flames behind me raged with my growing uneasiness and that startled Shourya. He gazed at it from above my shoulder, shifting light casting across his face. Then he scratched clumsily at his forehead. "Don't you want to know about the Cornelian's?"
I scoffed in complete disgust that was directed at Lady Chandrika. Her silly and shallow ambitions that I conceived to be the main cause for the ruination of this country. My stone burned. Thanks for the confirmation, Singh. I know you're fond of her, but I guess you both are collectively fond of withholding information too. "No human should indeed be considered an object," I said. "Haimavati was no saint, but she wasn't a devil-possessed drug fiend either. Perhaps I would have done the same if I were in her position. There's no need to talk about this anymore. Let's go get Nazira."
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