“It was an accident,” I said weakly.
YET YOU SEEM AT PEACE.
I didn’t respond. Seeing the face of the great beast, who enjoyed human flesh, was not so peaceful.
I WILL GRANT YOU A BOON, OF YOUR HEART’S DEAREST DESIRE, FOR BRINGING SUCH GREAT OFFERINGS.
I didn’t know my heart’s desire while facing a large creature that represented the old world. All I wanted was for Mahesh to not eat me for disturbing him. So I said nothing in the face of the choking sand and those large, glistening black eyes. The eyes blinked at me, understanding some truth I couldn’t voice or express.
IT IS DONE. YOU SHALL HAVE WHAT YOU DESIRE. NO ONE WILL KNOW WHAT YOU ARE, NO MATTER HOW HARD HE OR SHE LOOKS, AND EVERY GRAIN OF KNOWLEDGE WILL BE YOURS.
I felt the sand ripple. When it settled, the great beast was gone. A new pile of sand occupied the bottom of the pit, as did a scattering of bones and frayed cloth.
The rope around my waist tugged. I moved to climb up, staggering over the edge. Neelanth’s hand came into view, and I took it. He pulled me to solid ground, and clapped me on the shoulder.
“They’re dead,” I said. “They... Mahesh...”
“At least you’re alive, Ram,” Neelanth said with relief and admiration. “You saw the face of Mahesh and survived.”
“I was lucky,” I responded. “And stupid, like you said.”
“No, you were clever. You stayed out of his way,” Neelanth replied.
We stared at the pit, which had gotten larger with the sand crumbling. The horses shuddered with fear despite Bhadri’s coaxing.
Bhadri calmed them, and we drove home in silence. Birds started to chirp again. I fiddled with the Shakespeare book.
When we got to the hotel, Neelanth drew me a bucket of water and told me to change into clean clothes; I closed the door to my small quarters and washed the sand off my face and out of my hair. I changed quickly into the new shirt and dhoti. They were too large for me.
There was a new book on my chair, one that I hadn’t read before. I opened it, and felt sparks run through my fingertips. It was a treatise on mathematics, on algebra and calculus.
Grains of knowledge...
* * *
So. That is what really happened to Madam Coates. The hotel concierge made the three of us swear that it was a dust storm, and that the couple happened to ride out on a freak day. He commented without emotion on what a magnificent and extremely terrible tragedy it was, that he would have to notify upper management. New rules would have to be made, new releases for the lawyers in London to draft. But we had to keep mum.
The three of us agreed, myself shaking with horror and relief.
These days I recite Shakespeare with exact precision, while still receiving tips, and have started to decipher the ancient Sanskrit texts. The books in the hotel library keep changing. They sometimes become ancient tomes, or sometimes dialogues on Isaac Newton’s theory of physics. I have been teaching myself new languages, studying Latin characters and Chinese brushwork. My memory is like a net, capturing and holding all these works. I do not know how long it will last, but I am savoring every new fact.
Neelanth has made it a point to keep me away from the women in the hotel. We don’t talk, but sometimes I read out his favorite poetry over a bottle of spirits. Whiskey goes well with dark verses.
There are new tourists that want to see Mahesh, and one hunter expresses desire in mounting the worm on his wall. He thinks the taxidermist will have a “field day” with him, despite what the concierge says.
Mahesh’s roars enter my ears every night now, demanding more flesh. I toss and turn, as the hunter demands to go on a fateful safari.
Copyright © 2016 Priya Sridhar
Read Comments on this Story on the BCS Website
Priya Sridhar, a 2016 MBA graduate and published author, has been writing fantasy and science fiction for fifteen years, and counting, as well as drawing a webcomic for five years. She believes that every story is a journey, and that a good tale allows the reader to escape to a new world. She also enjoys reading, biking, movie-watching, and classical music. One of Priya‘s stories made the Top Ten Amazon Kindle Download list, and Alban Lake published her novella Carousel. Priya lives in Miami, Florida with her family and posts monthly at her blog A Faceless Author.
Read more Beneath Ceaseless Skies
COVER ART
“The Sacred Flames,” by Jinxu Du
Jinxu Du is a primarily self taught artist, now enrolled in school to pursue a career in concept art and design for entertainment media. See more work online at ishutani.deviantart.com.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies
ISSN: 1946-1076
Published by Firkin Press,
a 501(c)3 Non-Profit Literary Organization
Compilation Copyright © 2016 Firkin Press
This file is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 U.S. license. You may copy the file so long as you retain the attribution to the authors, but you may not sell it and you may not alter it or partition it or transcribe it.
Beneath Ceaseless Skies #214 Page 5
