Ragnik's car came to a halt in front of Sashidhar's house. It was an old building with a traditional architectural style. There was not much space in front of the house, just a plain old boundary and black iron gate. Shomak didn't like that prevailing silence surrounding the small two-story building. Earlier it used to emit only happy vibes. Though it had seen deaths, the core spiritual Vastu of the building was otherwise quiet homely. He remembered from his earlier visits.
"Why is it so silent here?" Ragnik asked walking towards the main entrance.
"The plot isn't on the main road," Shomak said unable to provide any explanation to Ragnik's question.
"Shomak, it's evening, you cannot expect a deserted road!"
Shomak glanced at him once before opening the gate.
They cannot deny that there was rather an odd silence. It was eerily quiet. They could even hear their own steps. "Sashidhar kaka?" Ragnik called pressing the bell twice. He pushed the door with a little more force, "locked from inside." He loudly called Sashidhar's name again.
There was no answer.
"Do you think we should have called him before coming?" Ragnik took out his cellphone to dial Sashidhar once.
"He is very punctual and rarely comes late from work." Shomak tried checking through the window.
"Is there a power-cut? I do not see any light switched on inside the house."
"Maybe. He is not picking up?"
Ragnik shook his head. "That's strange. He doesn't skip calls."
"Must be taking rest. He keeps a spare key for his house help." Shomak went towards a cluster of pots kept neatly in a corner. Lifting up the middle one he found a small key.
"Come, there's one more entrance from there," Shomak pointed towards another corner.
They went around the left side of the house looking for signs of trespassing. A small iron single door properly secured by a huge lock came into view. Shomak opened the door carefully with the key. Pushing it with a gentle press they walked into a dark corridor. It was a narrow entrance beside a very stiff looking staircase.
The main hall was a few steps away, Shomak informed. They climbed up two short steps to reach another door. To their surprise, it was left open.
"He keeps this door open for the house help but not completely ajar," Shomak parted a thin drape hanging over the open door to walk in.
As they went into the main hall calling for Sashidhar, they abruptly halted. They were not prepared to see a deadly sight as such. Standing close to each other panting, their eyes went wide in shock, their hearts started experiencing sudden momentary jolts. Not a word came out.
The cold breeze coming from that open entrance behind them send another chill down their spine.
Sashidhar's house help's eyes were looking straight towards them from her bent head. Her dead body was lying flat on the ground with her head forcefully bent backwards. Her hands were twisted and her legs spread in a triangle.
"Sashidhar kaka?" Ragnik whispered.
"Ke?!" a mad furious howl echoed through the house as they jumped back watching a dark figure leaping out from the top of a cupboard. It walked tilting across the wall and ran towards Sashidhar's room.
Shomak and Ragnik stood frozen for a minute. Then breaking out from the trance they rushed towards Sashidhar's bedroom. "What was that?" Ragnik panted while Shomak just shook his head.
Sashidhar wasn't in his room. Neither was that dark figure that had suddenly emerged from nowhere.
They went to check other rooms but couldn't find Sashidhar.
"Her daughter's room?" Shomak pointed at the last room in that dark corridor.
The interiors were partially lit by the lights coming from the adjacent street, but apart from that, uncanny darkness had surrounded the house.
"Shomak wait," Ragnik pulled him back. "This house reeks of that same smell we got in Bose Villa."
Shomak gulped. He too noticed it, "Could it be?"
Without wasting another second they ran towards Sashidhar's daughter's room.
Their steps abruptly halted again getting another shock.
"Sashidhar kaka!"
Breath caught in midway they were even scared to check if the body was really of Sashidhar.
Slashed from the middle in two parts Sashidhar's dead body was mercilessly lying on the ground in a two feet distance. The bloodied floor was attracting flies and insects. Sashidhar's spectacles remained untouched at the edge of the bed.
Slowly accepting that cruel reality Shomak fell on his knees with a long exhale and banged his fist on the floor. Ragnik held his shoulder as they both felt the rush of hot tears at the back of their eyes. "Why him?" Shomak asked gritting his teeth.
"Why him!" Shomak shouted. His voice echoed through the dark corridors of Sashidhar's house sending ripples in that silent night.
He curled on the floor over his knees banging his fist against the hard cold tiles again and again. His grief, his anger, and his guilt for not reaching on time were hitting his conscience; pulling him towards the path of insanity. His mind didn't function to see beyond. He could only see the aged man's corpse lying in two pieces screaming for justice from the depths of death.
What were these skull-men? Were they even men?
No, they weren't. They were just living deads feeding on every innocent soul that gathered the courage to go against them.
"Why him!" Shomak whispered lifting his head. Tears blurring out his vision. For a moment he thought miracles can happen and Sashidhar would stand before him laughing, talking, giving him advice on how to survive in this challenging industry.
His conscious mind reminded him once more. Death didn't have a reverse gear. It was the only truth that cannot be overshadowed by a lie. Sashidhar was gone. His warm hand would never caress Shomak's head to bless him, would never pat his back for his achievements, would never hold his shoulders to encourage him after every failure and would not come back to shake his hands to congratulate him. His time with Shomak was over, slipped away forever.
Ragnik didn't attempt to stop Shomak. He stood beside him, his hands rounded up in strong fists as if to prepare for an unseen battle that had defeat written all over it. He knew they were getting defeated in every step and probably would not last long in front of those skull-men. Sashidhar's corpse was another prediction of their loss. But that didn't mean they would bow down!
He looked at Shomak and knew. Never in a lifetime. Shomak had not learned that word. He didn't bow down to his opponents, he faced them. Sashidhar's death for him was a battle cry. His opponent was maybe a thousand times stronger than him, but he won't bow before those filthy skull-men.
His friend would never back out and he would support him till his last breath. He stood there, refusing to take even one step towards the balcony looking over the backyard.
Away in the backyard from the tall withered tree Raktim stood looking at them. His red eyes tried to provoke Ragnik, calling to all his vices, breaking through his restrains.
This was not a hallucination, which Ragnik had come across intoxicated with weeds. Raktim was there. Standing on the thinnest branch of the tree; his evil grin proved his presence for real. His flat-edged trident still trying to prove an authority he could have over Ragnik and Shomak.
Drunk in the false dictator's power Raktim had forgotten why Hiralal had first thought Ragnik to be a potential follower for Kaanthalis. Like every Kaanthali he was adamant and reckless, which would give him an added pleasure to include Ragnik in their cult. He would wait and see to what extent Ragnik could refuse. He might not be aware but apart from the elements, common people could be sired as well!
Shomak turned to see Ragnik rooted at the spot staring towards the backyard. He frowned looking in that same direction. He stood up, his eyes enraged. He looked at Raktim and challenged, "You will not touche my best friend!"
Shomak walked towards the balcony. "Never!" he shouted and was about to jump when Ragnik pulled him back. They saw Raktim crawling down the withered tree like a smooth slip and disappearing into the darkness.
"Shomak! Don't!" He tightly held him back, "my vices are not strong enough to overpower my will. You are not going to lose me Shomak. I assure you."
Then he noticed; Sashidhar's fingers were curled into a tight fist.
Nishi was very sure she had seen a drop of a tear falling from Nihar's eyes, though Nihar had quickly blinked it away. It would be wrong to say that the news of Sashidhar's death came as a shock. It was more of a strong reminder that Kaanthalis were not going to stop at any cost until they perform the ritual.
Ela, Mini, Oishi and Shomak were standing on a thin layer of ice beneath which remained a dormant sea of cold-blooded skull-men; waiting for them to exert even a lightest of pressure; a crack will appear and they would be swallowed into the depth of evil where there was no escape.
"When you start losing your loved ones gradually, accept the fact that the war is about to begin," Madhumita encircled three areas on Prathi's map. "They have waited centuries for performing the ritual, now that Raktim has pulled out Hiralal's demon from hibernation, he will attempt to merge it with his body."
"A twenty-two years old dead body has turned into a skeleton, how do you expect him to find the remains?" Ragnik asked.
Mini stared at him for longer than usual. He was willingly participating in his mother's discussions, which was at least a small step towards mending their damaged relation.
"Do you think he came back to Bose Villa only for his foster daughters? Imagine how powerful a cult will become if its demon gets a body. That too of its own. Rituals are performed after a person's death to not only help their souls to depart but also to break the bond between the body and the departing soul. Hiralal's antyesti was never performed. I believe his body is still there in Bose Villa. Skeleton or not; it doesn't matter" Madhumita kept noting down a few numbers on a white page.
"Raktim fears that if Purnima comes back he might interfere and won't let him find Hiralal's body," Geeta suddenly pointed.
"Absolutely right Geeta."
"This scribble you found in Sashidhar's fist resembles that pendent. The picture of which we found in Shailaja's file." Nishi picked up a small piece of paper with Sashidhar's handwriting and the drawing scribbled on it.
"It is not just any pendant, it's a healer's pendant, without which Purnima cannot leave Prathi," Malini explained.
"So that is why Raktim killed him. He knew about the pendant." Shomak's jaw tightened each time he remembered Sashidhar's corpse lying slashed in two parts.
"Did you send John and Vyjayanthi to Sashidhar dada's house?" Sudha asked. Madhumita nodded.
"If you wish to perform his last rites, no one will stop you Shomak," Nihar said. Shomak didn't answer; he kept looking at the page Nishi was holding.
"What is a healer's pendant?" Mini asked Malini.
"Professor!" Girish came rushing into the room with a parchment. "I found it! My brother indeed had the scrolls that mention the deers!"
"What?" Madhumita stood up quickly taking the parchment from him. She inspected the parchment carefully and after about a minute she sat down with a defeated sigh. "This is not the real script. That scripture was written in Prakrit in old Brāhmi scripting system, discovered in 15th Century by Prathi's royal physician Alaapi. It was a gift from the Magri tribe who were preserving the entire manuscript for generations. This," she picked up a parchment, "Is just a Sanskrit translation of the real text."
"No! That can't be!" Girish protested again looking through the parchment.
"Professor is right. Indeed he was asked to deliver the script to Gorkel but he replaced it with the real one so that the actual scripture remains safe." Vaidehi came in with a tray full of tea. She kept the tray on the table and moved towards Malini. "Don't worry, I haven't mixed anything in it!"
"Who has the script then?" Malini asked. Vaidehi turned away refusing to answer.
"That twelve-year-old wannabe Aghori?" Madhumita snapped.
"He has a name!" Vaidehi yelled.
"I do not wish to know."
"Please, don't! We are already running out of time. Mini asked a question and I too want to know if this is what shall help me find my mother," Ela stood between Vaidehi and Madhumita to stop their fight over a boy who was still playing an invisible role in their disrupted life.
"Healers or Jayus are not allowed to stab a wounded person," Vaidehi said. "Purnima had killed Hiralal when he was wounded, that means she had broken the law of our kin. Hence by the rules of our kin, she needed to go back to her ancestral land. Now without the pendant, she cannot come out of Prathi. There are people who will not let her cross the borders of Prathi until she wears the pendant. Consider it her permit."
"Who told you all these?" Madhumita questioned.
"Grihamani," Vaidehi said closing her eyes.
"That twelve-year-old wannabe aghori's grandfather?" Madhumita had enough of their interference.
"Where is that pendant now?" Ela quickly asked not letting them get into another verbal fight.
"I don't know. Every family of our kin has a unique pendant, a family heirloom, which allows the most experienced Jayu of the family to take the most crucial decisions. Such as stabbing Hiralal even though he was wounded. Mine is the cowrie pendant while yours is thisone," Vaidehi said clutching her pendant tightly, "But since Purnima went back to Prathi your family's pendant is definitely not with her."
"Shailaja had found the pendent and according to baba, she was attacked," Kallolini spoke finally participating in their conversation directly.
"Himadri knew about the pendant? But he said when he performed the autopsy, he didn't find any pendant, though the picture was there in Shailaja's belongings." Madhumita was shocked. Kallolini never hid anything from her yet this was new information.
"No. The pendant was still there stuck in her food pipe. He took it out and gave it to someone whom nobody will suspect to have the pendant. He had asked me to never tell this to anyone."
"Whom did he give the pendant to?" Ragnik asked clearly baffled by Kallolini's revelation.
"Priya Dutta," Kallolini said looking at Ela.
"No!" Ela's face turned pale. Indeed she was the last person who could be suspected.
"You have to talk to her Ela. She won't give it up without any explanation. It was the last gift from her father," Kallolini said.
"Of course, Himadri too was a good friend of Ranjan, I remember introducing them. No wonder he gave the pendant to his family," Nihar smacked his hand on his forehead.
"He knew Purnima had a connection with the Dutta's? Didn't he?" Ragnik asked Nihar.
Nihar nodded.
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