Bubba was dead sure of Gerua’s whereabouts over the last six years. She had totally recovered from the incident that had happened six years ago. He knew how deceptive and cunning individuals trained by the masters could be. The great Karce himself had been fooled. He firmly believed now that the rumors were true and during this alignment, there had been a birth, and he intended to use this knowledge to his advantage. If he was right and he could convert the boy to his edict, he would become as powerful as the Asura.
Bubba’s belief that the Asura could be manipulated and outwitted had just been reinforced. Even though Karce had seen her hologram, he had been fooled. The Cosmic Council was so confident and arrogant that they could not even imagine what Bubba knew about the ashram and its occupants. The Asura relied too much on their technology and not enough on their siddhi.
Bubba walked out of the great hall, sealing the gateway behind him. He exited the outer cave next to the great hall and then into the ritual cave, and on to the exit from the cave system. He moved past the maze of caves where the other aghori dwelled. Bubba’s key lieutenants, who resided in these caves, along with their apprentices, cowered in fear and dread as he walked past them.
Bubba had evaluated the situation. He knew from experience that Gerua was an exceptional yogini capable of destroying his paranormal minions but she was with a boy now, and she would be vulnerable. He wanted to know what Gerua was capable of when her son was put in abrupt and abysmal danger.
Bubba called fifteen aghori and arranged them in a pyramid formation, one in front followed by two, and then three, four, and five. He laid down the attack strategy for them, instructing them how to attack the woman and the boy.
The aghori were to remain hidden and use the element of surprise in the attack. He wanted the boy alive, and they should try to take the woman alive if they could. If, for some reason, they could not, Bubba gave them permission to dispatch her and bring him her still warm body. He would turn her into his slave even if she was dead. He needed her to serve him to give him a great strategic advantage.
CHAPTER 33
SADHU
Gerua and Danta continued their journey southeast. As they walked, Danta said, “Mom, there is not much room to move because there are so many trees.” He waved his hands as if he were telling the trees and the bushes to move out of their way.
Gerua laughed, amused. “If only they could move! But trees can’t move.”
“But the fairies told me that the trees would move if we asked them nicely.” Danta was serious.
“Okay, let’s pray to the forest gods to clear a path for us that leads to our objective,” said Gerua. “O venerable gods of the forest, please hear our prayers. Danta and I implore you to provide a clear path to our destination. We thank you for your kindness.”
“There, Mom! See, the forest gods heard you! There is a clearing!” Danta exclaimed joyfully and pointed to an area just ahead. “Let’s go through there.” Danta had been communicating with the forest. Gerua knew she had to contain his communication. She opened her mind and was pleasantly surprised when she realized he was already containing his thoughts. He was cleverly and covertly restricting it to an area of a few feet in front of him. How could he have such incredible control? Gerua wondered. Master Iku must have taught him. Gerua decided she would just watch over him quietly and would not say anything.
She did not want to let Danta know what she was thinking and blocked her own thoughts. Danta was, however, continually surprising Gerua by the subtle use of his skills. He was a talented little boy. He made it look like Gerua was requesting help from the forest gods. Gerua and Danta crossed the clearing, and Gerua was surprised to see that the forest was relatively clear thereafter.
Wherever they stepped, they had enough room to move comfortably through the trees and shrubs. She pretended to push the branches aside. She barely had to touch the leaves to make them move.
Was it the wind, or was she imagining things? The trees, bushes, and undergrowth came alive, swaying and moving in the wind. It was as if the trees were happy, and in their happiness, the branches twisted and waved. Gerua could see other trees bending down as if they were dancing. The forest actually appeared to be a living, moving forest. The smaller trees seemed to dance in the wind, and the larger ones swayed. They saw primates swinging wildly through the trees, and the birds chirped along with the monkeys.
Danta led the way, pulling Gerua behind him through the forest. Chirping birds moved ahead of them as if guiding them through the maze of dense growth. Suddenly, Danta slowed, and the wind seemed to die down.
Gerua activated the belt she wore and gently tightened her grip on Danta’s hand. Gerua looked over her shoulder and saw that the path behind them had nearly closed as if it had never existed. They moved on, walking into a small circle of a clearing. Alarmed, Gerua suddenly stopped walking and pulled Danta back toward her. Danta smiled at his mother and began to speak, but Gerua put her fingers on his lips. Danta frowned at her.
They stood very still, and Gerua strained her ear to her left. She could hear something approaching. Whatever it was, it made no attempt to hide the racket it made as it moved through the thicket. Gerua turned to her left, her hand on the handle of the urumi, ready to draw. Danta stood behind her, and both of them waited for whatever was coming. The noise was almost at the edge of the clearing. Then it stopped suddenly. Gerua waited and listened. Something was watching them. Was it a friend or foe? She knew that it was not a creature; instead, it was probably human. She also knew that if it were something that meant them harm, it would move silently. Gerua stepped back, and Danta shifted with her. Why did it stop? Gerua wondered. Then she heard the bushes rustle again. She released the urumi momentarily to take out the scroll.
A man’s hand appeared out of the bushes, gently parting them. He slowly stepped out of the thicket into the clearing. He was lanky, and almost naked. He carried a staff with him and wore a necklace of rudraksh, the same beads as Gerua wore around her neck. Gerua knew that the rudraksh was used to protect the wearer against evil. The man had a long beard, and his matted jet-black hair was coiled over his head. His forehead bore three parallel stripes of ash. He wore almost nothing else except a loincloth. He had a pleasant smile on his bearded face.
Gerua instantly recognized him as a naked ascetic, a sadhu, and she did not need the help of the scroll to identify him as a friend. She touched the stone on her belt buckle, removing the belt’s protection. Gerua clasped her palms in front of her in the customary respectful greeting, namaste, and bowed slightly. She whispered the word “nanga sadhu” so that Danta could hear her. Danta mimicked Gerua, greeting the sadhu.
The man standing before them raised his right hand, palm facing them in a blessing. In his left hand, he held a staff. “Bless you. May you succeed in all your endeavors!”
Gerua and Danta raised their heads and looked into the sadhu’s gentle eyes. “Thank you,” said Gerua.
“I have come all the way from the upper mountain to see you. I am sorry if I startled you. Some of my brethren will also be joining us,” said the man. He looked at Danta. “Do you know who I am?” he asked Danta with a broad smile.
“Sadhu,” said Danta, smiling back.
“Ha ha ha… you are a smart young man,” said the man. “Come here, let me look at you.” Gerua put her hand on Danta’s shoulder, gently encouraging him to move toward the sadhu.
Gerua knew that the sadhu wanted to see Danta’s aura. “Look at you,” said the sadhu, smiling. “Your aura is wonderful, even better than I imagined. Do you know what an aura is, young man?”
Danta nodded. “The aura is the electromagnetic field that surrounds the human body. The human energy field is a collection of electromagnetic energies of varying densities that permeates through and emits from the physical body of every living person. These particles of energy are suspended around the healthy human body in an oval-shaped field. This auric field emits out and is contained within two to three feet on all s
ides, extending above the head and below the feet into the ground. It consists of seven layers of auric bodies. Each one of the subtle bodies that exist around the physical body has its own unique frequency. They are interrelated and affect one another and the person’s feelings, emotions, thinking, behavior, and health. A state of imbalance in one of the bodies leads to a state of imbalance in the others. I can see your aura too. It is well balanced, although you need to work on your anger a bit,” Danta added.
“Ha ha... A remarkably accurate and detailed description!” The sadhu looked at Danta, and he could see that the child’s aura was a field of pure light. Its luminous radiation was akin to that depicted in religious art. As the sadhu continued to look intensely and focused on Danta’s spirit, he could see the radiation become brighter and brighter until it was almost blinding. He immediately knew that such an aura denoted a person of spectacular spiritual strength and purity. Danta’s aura grew so bright that the sadhu had to look away eventually. As the radiating light dimmed, he could see the halo. The sadhu felt a sense of blissful peace and calm.
Danta moved toward him, and the sadhu knelt as Danta approached. He put his right hand on Danta’s shoulder. The boy stood confident and tall, looking directly into the sadhu’s eyes. He did not show fear or mistrust of any kind. The sadhu had seen the boy’s aura, and he took a deep breath, seeming greatly relieved, and then he smiled. Yes, this was indeed the boy they had been praying for, the paragon he had come to see, leaving his brethren and traveling down from the freezing heights of the mountain. The sadhu and his brethren had watched the astronomic alignment. Even before that event, some of them had seen a vision of the coming of the paragon of spirituality to this world. The sadhus had been meditating for a long time, praying for the paragon with the means and ability to rid humanity of the evil plague infesting and corrupting everything. Their prayers had been heard, and he was sure that the boy was the answer. He peered at Danta curiously and then looked at Gerua and shut his eyes in relief.
He opened his eyes and said, “My brethren who shall be joining us shortly will be delighted to see the boy. We will stay with you for a part of your journey, but whatever your goal, we will not interfere.” Gerua was thankful to have the company of the sadhu, even if it was only for a part of the way. “Let us move on. You will tell me what you know about us, young man.” The sadhu smiled at Danta.
“Okay,” said Danta happily as they started walking. The primates and the chirping birds followed them again.
“So, tell me, what do you know about us?” asked the sadhu again.
“You are an ascetic warrior, always ready for a fight,” Danta answered politely.
“That is right. We fight bad and sinister people and things,” the sadhu added.
“You live in an akhara, a traditional clay gym in the caves high in the Himalayas, where you practice fighting. You meditate, practice yoga, and practice fighting, then more meditation and more fighting. Which part of the mountain is your cave in?” asked Danta boldly, and Gerua smiled. Danta was now walking in between Gerua and the sadhu.
“Ha, ha, ha.” The sadhu laughed loudly. “My cave is in Dhaulagiri Mountain in Nepal. I live there with some of my brethren. When we sit in a bandha, meditating, we have to release the enormous energy we channel and generate, so we fight each other laughing.” They all laughed.
“Is that why everyone thinks you are wild and strange?” Danta chuckled.
“Ha ha ha... That is why we never come down,” said the sadhu. “The only time we see people is at the Kumbh festival, when some of us go to take the holy dip, which is when we see the city dwellers.”
“Don’t you feel cold there? I hear you don’t wear any clothes,” Danta inquired.
“Hmm... very impressive. You know a lot about us.” The sadhu grinned broadly. “No, we don’t feel cold or hot. We can regulate our body temperature and breathing. Can you do that?”
“Hmmm... maybe,” replied Danta, peering at his mother, who smiled back at him. “I only feel cold if I want to. My mom taught me how to breathe, so I have no problem breathing on any mountain.” Danta’s expression became serious.
“Do you know we’re being watched?” asked Danta abruptly. Gerua stared at Danta. “Watched? By whom?”
“I think it is a sinister phantom,” Danta whispered. “I think it has been following us for a long time.”
CHAPTER 34
ATTACK
Gerua and the sadhu looked at each other in surprise. “Let’s keep moving,” Gerua suggested. She was very alert now. She really wanted to use her siddhi to find out what was going on, but she restrained herself. Do not disclose your strength, Gerua told herself. Restraint is the key. Danta was already reading the environment. She had to exercise control. Gerua’s introspection kept her vigilant but calm. Let the enemy know that this is just an ordinary trek. They must not know our strengths, or our objective. Already too many things had happened. She had to find a way to lose whatever or whoever was following them.
Danta had a lot of questions for the sadhu. “Were you born a sadhu, or did you become one?” he asked.
“I wasn’t born a sadhu. I renounced the world a long time ago when I was eight years old. I lived in a village a long way from here. There were some horrible, evil people around my village. The village was poor, so we mostly grew our food and lived off of the land, what you might call subsistence farming. These people would come to our village during harvest and loot and steal from the villagers. My family was murdered when my father tried to fight the looters. I was away in the fields, so I survived. It was the days of Kumbh, the biggest gathering in the world, where sadhus go. Some sadhus were passing, and they saw my plight and the plight of some other children of the village. They took all the orphans as their apprentices. So I became a sadhu. They taught me how to be strong, to fight, and to be pure. They also taught me some yog. I have been a sadhu since. I have given up all material things and devoted myself to the path of salvation.”
“You mean nirvana?” asked Danta.
The sadhu sighed. “Alas, it was nirvana. It’s what all yogis should strive for. But there are no gurus that have the knowledge to help us attain nirvana. It is beyond our reach. Besides, right now, my guru has commanded us to focus on containing those who commit evil and sinister acts. Do you know that we have a very regimental life? We are not afraid of anyone, nor are we afraid to die fighting for a virtuous cause. Sometimes people call us the warrior sadhu, and we are often misunderstood.”
“Is that also why you like to keep away from other people? Staying in your akhara?” asked Danta.
The sadhu laughed again. “You are a wise boy. But we are not in the akhara now. What are you going to do when you are all grown up?”
Danta smiled at the sadhu. “What would you want me to do? Should I help you fight the sinister?”
“You will know what you must do,” replied the sadhu, and they both laughed.
While Danta and the sadhu talked, Gerua consciously diverted all her mental energies looking for clues. She trusted Danta’s instinct and was now fully cognizant of being followed, but this had been anticipated. As long as the sadhu was with them, they could not lose their pursuers. More sadhus were coming, so she would worry about losing the pursuers when the sadhus were gone. She knew that the sadhu would protect Danta at any cost. The sadhu had helped by making her focus on the job at hand, finding clues. Gerua had seen markings by the bears on the trees, but she was not worried about bear attacks. This meant that they were getting closer to their objective. She had to find some substantial clues, however. She decided to ask the sadhu.
“We need to find the banyan tree to rest for a while. Do you know where it is?” she asked.
“Patience, child,” said the sadhu, “You will get there. We are going in the right direction. A tree like that needs lots of water. Although the mountain has lots of water, we will find the tree by a lake, and the lake is some distance away. We are in naga country, and you will have to go
through it.”
They reached a small clearing when Danta tugged at their hands and stopped moving. He squatted on the ground. “Everything okay, honey?” Gerua inquired.
Danta took one pebble and put it in front of him, and then he marked the soil by pressing three of his fingers on the soil, making three depressions in front of the single pebble. Then he pointed to the center depression and then to himself. On the opposite side of the three dots, Danta put two pebbles and then three on the other side and four behind the two and five behind three till there were fifteen pebbles around them. Gerua and the sadhu watched Danta place the pebbles. Danta then rearranged the pebbles in a circle around the three depressions. He whispered one word, “aghori.”
With one swift swipe of her foot, Gerua scattered the pebbles, released the backpack to her left, and extended her right hand to Danta. He took her hand and gracefully climbed onto her back. She activated the belt, and the protective shield sheathing them just when they heard a scream in the trees behind the sadhu. An aghori carrying a trident burst screaming out of the thicket, his bearded face contorted in a frightening snarl. His long-matted hair and scruffy beard giving him a wild look. His whole body was covered in gray ash, and he wore an animal skin at his waist. Charging, he lowered his trident with its sharp points pointing toward Gerua. Hearing the scream, the sadhu whipped around to face the oncoming attacker. He took his stance and held his staff in front of him with both hands, parallel to the ground.
CHAPTER 35
DEFENSE
With a swift movement of his staff, the sadhu pushed the trident away from Gerua and kicked the aghori in the chest, sending him crashing back into a bush. As he fell, Gerua heard screams behind her, and two more aghori, almost identical to the first one, came crashing through the thicket. The one on her right wielded a club, and the other on her left brandished a staff. With Danta on her back, Gerua had already turned toward the oncoming aghori. The sadhu and Gerua were standing back to back as the aghori with the club charged at Gerua, his club held above his head with both hands as he screamed and attempted to smash it down on Gerua.
Dwandv:: The Battle for the Gate Page 18
