The Destiny of Shaitan

by Laxmi Hariharan

  She laughs. “Is that all you have to say?”

  He smiles and holds out his hand to her. She hesitates. He nods as if to reassure her. She places her palm in his and has the breath squeezed out of her immediately. They travel over the seas, the white sands of the beach, the dolphins and whales leaping up delightedly to meet them as they pass over, they journey through the stars and the moon, cross the rings of Jupiter, hanging there suspended for a minute grinning at each other delightedly.

  Tiina laughs, her lungs filled with the pure joy of the moment, till it seems her chest has constricted with excitement and she cannot breathe. She is about to exclaim, but a small scream escapes her instead for, with another whoosh, they are headed right back.

  Back through the night and daylight, this time passing more twinkling stars, and then back past the sea creatures that again seem to rise up in ecstasy trying to touch them. Back to the bottom of the sea, and up the other side with the waves, until they touch back lightly onto the balcony.

  Tiina opens her eyes and looks at Yudi, her eyes shining. “Wow!” she says.

  “Wow?” he teases her.

  “How did you do that?”

  “Magicians never tell.”

  “Is that what you are? A magician?”

  “Your true love.”

  He stops smiling and leans forward to kiss her. She melts straight away and steps forward, blocking the space between them so not even a ray of light can separate them, when the noise of someone approaching the room penetrates their consciousness.

  They break their kiss, though are still unwilling to part their clasped hands. Tiina opens her eyes. “It’s Maya, she …”

  “Should not learn about us” Yudi completes her sentence.

  Tiina smiles delighted that he could read her mind. Yudi leans forward to kiss her smile one more time. Then waltzes over the balcony and whistles for his horse which seems to come galloping out of the darkness. He vaults over the rail and lands on the back of the horse below. He looks up to see her now silhouetted against the moon standing where he had been just a few moments ago, and smiles. She sees his teeth gleam in the dark light and has to smile back. Then involuntarily gasps as he retraces his steps back from the morning, taking his horse across the lawns through the bushes and in a jump over the wall, disappearing into the darkness.

  She closes her eyes and sends up a delighted thanks and a prayer to keep him safe.

  And feels all she has done since is pray for their safety, first his then her own, hiding in the stables of the palace, hoping, praying, cajoling the universe that Shaitan not find her. The sweat trickles down her forehead into her eyes, causing them to burn, but she barely notices it through the haze of her pre-occupation. She is shivering; partly from terror and partly from the fading warmth, as the sun begins to set on the wounded.

  Tiina and Maya had been sleeping when Shaitan burst in on them. Having slaughtered most of the royal family and set the destroyed city behind him ablaze, Shaitan had finally homed in on his destination.

  Walking in on their sleeping forms, his eyes flick over the posters on the walls he smiles. The girls seemed to be fans of bands from the sixties & seventies. Shaitan himself was partial to music from that era and it amused him no end that he and the twins shared so much in common. He must have chuckled aloud, for even though his footsteps make no sound, yet both the girls open their eyes to see Shaitan striding towards them, hold his sword high.

  Maya cries out in terror, seeing the devil incarnate right there in front of her.

  With a smooth movement, Tiina swings up, grasping the sword at her side. Standing up on the bed in her bedclothes, her long hair streaming behind her, she challenges him.

  Maya runs across the room, from her bed to her sister’s, and clings to her legs in terror. “Help me! He’s here for me,” she cries, almost babbling with fright. Noticing her, Shaitan raises his eyes, and training his gaze on her, smiles slowly, luxuriously, hypnotically. Transferring his own sword into his left hand, he beckons Maya to him with his right.

  Tiina is alarmed and holds onto her fiercely. “Oh no! You’re not!” she says.

  Shaitan continues to smile, no trace of emotion on his face. He beckons again to Maya, who gets back onto her feet. Her movements are slow, as if in a trance. She walks across the bed towards Shaitan.

  “Maya” Her twin screams out and lunges towards her. She tries to hold onto Maya, only to be struck by Shaitan’s sword and thrown off the bed. Hitting her head on the side of the bed, she blacks out.

  When she regains consciousness, Shaitan is gone and so is Maya. With an effort, she gets onto her feet, holding her bleeding forehead.

  The adrenaline kicks in and she runs out onto the palace grounds to be greeted by complete silence. Not even the birds seemed to be alive. She can smell the fires burning in the city. She continues walking and is assailed by a sweet, almost aromatic, smell.

  She moves towards it, curious, not quite understanding its source. Her foot catches on something and she stumbles. She looks down and thinks that it is a rotting tree limb. She prods it curiously, turning it over with her foot. Then it hits her. She realises that is a burnt leg still attached to a corpse.

  Tiina looks at the scene in front of her, taking it all in for the first time, then she falls to the ground, her stomach heaving. She is at the edge of what seems to be, as far as the eye can see, a human sea of dead people. Soldiers dead, killed, massacred. The bodies stretched out across the beach, rushing out to meet the waves, the waters turning red with blood, reflecting the blood red sunset across the water.

  It’s almost pretty in a gruesome way, she thinks, rising to her knees, taking in the scene, instinctively burying her head in her hands.

  Suddenly the sound of approaching footsteps breaks her out of her reverie. She realises that it is far from safe yet.

  Taking to her heels, she runs, chest heaving, to the stables, past the horses still munching away, which turn to look at her, slightly disturbed by her abrupt arrival. Amazed that they are still alive, she slows down and quiets them until they are used to her presence. Then, walking to the back, she slips into the shadows. She hides there in the quiet and, losing track of time, nods off, events catching up with her.

  She comes to with a start, not really sure what has disturbed her. The nervous tension builds in her and sweat trickles down her face, stinging her eyes. She draws in a deep breath trying to quell the heavy, dark fear, which threatens to leap out and grip her again. Then freezes as she sees a shadow enter, followed by another.

  They walk noiselessly around the stable and, by the light reflecting off their swords, she can see fleeting glances of their swarthy faces.

  Half-human, half-animal: almost snake, is the closest that she can tell, yet they are much more scaly, like pre-historic beasts, walking with a slithering grace.

  They seem to have a soft spot for the horses, which in turn reciprocate their affection. One of the scaly things slithers to the closest horse, patting it on the nose, and the horse nuzzles him affectionately, the others shake their heads snorting in appreciation.

  One of them looks up, cocking its head as if listening to something beckoning him from afar. It signals to the other, they turn, and to her shock change to a fully reptilian form and slither out very quickly in a flash.

  Tiina takes a deep breath and falls back against the wall of the stable, the strength goes out of her legs and she sinks to the floor, fresh tears springing to her eyes as an overwhelming feeling of relief pours over her. She lies there spent for a few minutes which seem like hours before dozing off again.

  When she next wakes up she wipes the tears from her eyes. From somewhere deep inside her core, strength comes bubbling up as if from an underground mountain stream. And she reaches a threshold, a decision, a no-return place in her mind.

  Tired of being the victim, of being chased, of hiding.

  “I am the princess, the future ruler of Ka Surya,” she thinks. “I will not hide he
re like a coward while everything around me crashes and burns.”

  It is time. Time to face her enemies and escape. “And if I die trying, so be it,” she says aloud, with vehemence. She looks around her, checking to make sure the coast is clear, and walks out of her hiding place and up to her favourite horse.

  Patting it on the neck she leans in close and whispers, “My life depends on you.”

  Feeling fresh tears springing up and threatening to engulf her again, she hastily saddles up the horse and mounts. They leave the stables and she coaxes the animal slowly through the shrubs and the rocks, riding down to the shore, slipping and sliding, her heart in her mouth until they reach the beach below. Finally picking up speed, they fly through the sand, her face close to the horse’s mane.

  “I am not afraid, I am not afraid, I am not afraid!” she chants to herself, as if it is a mantra. She hangs onto the familiarity of the words, drawing courage from them, blocking any doubts or fears from entering her mind. She keeps looking behind anxiously, but no one gives chase. She rides all through the night and by daybreak emerges on the far side of the city, at the base of the flat plateau which marks the easternmost boundary of the kingdom. She coaxes the horse up as far as possible, and when it gets too precarious to ride further, she dismounts and walks the rest of the way, leading the horse. Finally coming up onto the flat plateau, she shushes the horse and hides behind the silver buildings that form the periphery of the base station, surveying the activity.

  Other residents of the planet have had the same idea, for as she watches; various space ships of all sizes take off, packed with people and families. Getting back on the horse she races towards the royal space ship, which is being filled to capacity. She wordlessly rides the horse up the gangplank with the other streaming hordes of people all making good their escape.

  She huddles down inside, having secured herself and the horse, takes a last look at the planet through the window, wondering ... knowing in her heart that she will never see it again.

  The space ship shuts its doors and takes off. As she looks out, she sees Shaitan’s men coming up the mountain from all sides. One of them looks up at the space ship, straight to where she is peering out through the window. He beckons to others, who run towards the ship, but it is too late for they are already on their way. She can only watch helplessly as the rest of the base with her people and the remaining ships are torched. The flames from the buildings on the perimeter of the space station leap up, forming a circle of pain. She shuts her eyes...Opening them much later.

  She is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Having jumped over the balcony rails to the back of the waiting horse below, Yudi looks up at Tiina and smiles. The moonlight wraps her in a halo, making her look ethereal. He lifts his hand in farewell. Then, storing the last image of her in his mind, he takes his horse across the palace walls. He rides through the adjoining cluster of palm trees, emerging onto a beach and heads along the shore enjoying the warmth of the first rays of the sun. Something has shifted and for the first time he feels completely alive. Within twenty minutes he is home.

  He finds Athira pacing the garden outside their home waiting for him. “Where have you been?” he snaps.

  The boy in Yudi is a little scared about his father’s anger. And yet Yudi feels somewhere in the previous twenty four hours he has grown.... he feels almost a man in many ways. He does not react, merely glancing at Athira as he dismounts and leads the horse into a small stable to the right of the garden. In the next stall Athira’s horse looks up butting him affectionately as he walks his horse into the adjoining one. His movements are relaxed as he takes the harness off the horse and lays out some hay, pouring water into the trough.

  In a fine rage now, Athira walks up to Yudi and shakes him by the shoulder. “The world is on fire and you … you are happy to just groom your horse.”

  Yudi catches his father’s hand, holding it in a surprisingly strong grip. “Don’t push it old man,” he says.

  Athira looks at him in surprise. Not for the first time he senses the growing power in his son, the tense muscles of his thin arm coiled under his hold. He lets go of Yudi, takes a deep breath to calm himself and says, “I was worried …”

  “Worried?” Yudi looks closer and sees that Athira’s eyes are troubled. “What happened?”

  Hoping to calm down Athira picks up the other brush and starts grooming Yudi’s horse from the other side. “I received a transmission from Saturn.”

  Yudi continues to rub down the horse “I didn’t know you still kept in touch with those on Saturn. Thought, you left all that behind.”

  “I did,” he replies, “but this time they reached out to me. Some of my friends on the planet tuned in to warn me ...”

  “Warn you?”

  “Yes. They showed me what had become of Saturn. Tortured and burnt by …”

  “Shaitan?” Yudi turns pale and stands still for a few seconds. Then, resuming his earlier actions, says, “He’s coming for me.”

  “Yes,” says Athira, looking at Yudi. “You don’t sound surprised.”

  “It was just a matter of time,” he replies. “We always knew this was going to happen.”

  “So you admit it?”

  “What?”

  “Your connection to Shaitan?”

  Yudi throws down his grooming brush and walks around to Athira, trying not to show the temper building up inside him. Athira instead puts so much effort into his movements that the horse shies away in pain.

  Yudi sighs, sensing the discontent in the older man. He puts his arms around Athira and hugs him. “Dad,” he says, “you are my father and nothing can change that.”

  Athira looks at him, eyes filled with love and sorrow “You’ve been more than a son,” he says “And yet ... yet I live with this nameless fear that you will be taken away. It’s bound to happen someday ...”

  “We don’t know that for sure.”

  “Why else would he come here?”

  “You’ve heard the same legends as me,” says Yudi. “If Shaitan is going to be killed at the hands of his son, then why would he look for me?”

  “That is why he has come looking for you. So he can kill you before you get to him.”

  “I’m not his son!” Yudi declares angrily.

  “You don’t know that,” says Athira. “How else do you explain the barcode on your skin?”

  “That doesn’t mean a thing... its, uh! Like a birthmark,” says Yudi sounding once more like the petulant young boy he really is. He feels his side where he bears the strange mark that is the bane of much friction between himself and his father. Father and son look at each other challengingly, the same obstinate expression on both their faces.

  “It is useless to fight over this, Dad,” says Yudi, giving in first.

  Athira says “Come on then. I am tired. Let’s get something to eat and figure out what to do next.”

  Yudi heaves a sigh as Athira drops the brush and slaps the horse on his rump. They walk out of the stable crossing the garden and into the house.

  Later, sitting across the table from him, Athira watches his son tear into his food with the appetite of youth while he himself can barely bring himself to look at the plate in front of him.

  “Hold on!” he exclaims as a thought strikes him “You never told me where you were all night!”

  Yudi barely pauses in the middle of a mouthful of food. “I was at the palace.”

  Athira chokes over the fruit he is eating “The palace? What were you doing? Playing hide and seek with the princesses?”

  Yudi laughs. “You could say that!”

  “Yudi!” Athira warns him.

  “OK, OK! Well it seems …” he hesitates, “it does seem like I’ve met her.”

  “Who?”

  “You know who … um … the one … You know!”

  “The one?” Athira does not understand, then suddenly light dawns. “Ah! You mean the ONE!” He pauses then says again, “You are too young to know what you
want right now, let alone decide about the one. What do you know about the ONE, anyway?”

  “That’s not fair,” says Yudi. “When did you know?”

  “Yeah yeah, OK. But I was much older than you and had seen the world already.”

  “You’re the one who always says that age has nothing to do with it.”

  “When it suits me, yes”

  “You mean when it makes you feel young. Then!”

  “You are growing up too fast, Yudi.”

  “And you’ve done a good job of that, Dad!”

  Athira smiles “And I’m proud of you too,” he says, then sobers up. “We have to leave.”

  “Yes. I know,” concedes Yudi. Finishing the food on his plate and pushing it away, he reaches for the orange juice and drains the entire glass, wiping his lips.

  “Now!”

  Yudi looks at him in alarm “Now?”

  “And what will you tell the king?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Nothing? So we just slip away …?”

  “We don’t have much time.” Hardly are the words out of his mouth when, as if in response, the walls of the house around them shake, sending the pots and pans on the shelves crashing.

  They look at each other in alarm. Then Athira springs into action. I am going to get what we need for the journey.”

  “Father!” Yudi protests.

  Athira disregards him and runs up the stairs into his bedroom. Yudi walks to the window and looks out in time to hear an explosion in the distance. He can see a huge burst of flame rising up to the skies not far off in the direction of the palace. He gawps at it, open-mouthed watching the flame become a cloud of smoke, then is shaken out of his reverie by Athira, who runs down the stairs with a backpack. He is also carrying both their swords in protective sheaths. He throws the smaller one across to Yudi who secures it on his back with the leather sheath across his chest. The sword is still almost as a big as him and feels heavy but its weight is reassuring. Athira mirrors Yudi’s movements securing his own sword across his back as well.