The Call of Mount Sumeru

by Elyse Salpeter

  Within seconds a new peal of thunder exploded above him, and then a great beast appeared in the sky and flew straight towards him. Desmond’s heart swelled when he stared at his magnificent steed as it came closer.

  But Dorje was not alone. Someone rode him. No, that can’t be. Jealousy and rage filled Desmond’s veins with ice.

  Ari held on desperately to the mane of his fedelia. When Dorje landed, Desmond aimed his bow and steadied it right at Ari’s head.

  Finley gripped his arm. “Garrett, no! What are you doing?”

  Desmond’s blood boiled and he shook her off without lowering his weapon. “Stay out of this, Finn,” he fumed. He glared at Ari. “Get off my steed right now, you piece of shit.”

  Dorje flung Ari off his side and Ari tumbled unceremoniously to the ground, where he landed hard on his backside. He appeared stunned, nearly as stunned as Desmond felt seeing him. How did he get here? Desmond moved forwards until he was just a foot away. The arrow was still aimed at Ari’s head.

  Ari put up his hands in surrender. “Desmond, please, we can do this later. We need to get to Kelsey. She’s in danger. We have to help her or she’s going to get killed.”

  Desmond glared at him. “I’ve heard that line from you before. Right before you tried to get me murdered in Egypt, or don’t you remember?” He jutted his chin out towards his sister. “Finn, you come with me.” He snarled at Ari. “You, don’t even think of moving or I will shoot you.”

  Desmond side-stepped Ari without removing his weapon. He sidled up to Dorje. “Hey, boy. Good to see you.”

  Dorje stamped his front foot in response.

  Finley inched over to him and Desmond ordered her up on his fedelia’s back.

  Desmond jumped on easily and cast his gaze on Ari, who still sat on the ground. “Consider it a favor to your sister that I didn’t kill you, and you’re here and not fighting above. Though when we finally beat the Asuras back, I suggest you find a good hiding spot because this is where they’ll be coming. And I assure you, they won’t take kindly to seeing you.”

  With that, Dorje lifted off the ground. Finley squealed, gripping Desmond tightly around his waist and burrowing her face into his back.

  Dorje took off to the sky with Ari staring after them, open-mouthed.

  Chapter 25

  Kelsey and Ishu flew directly into the battle and landed in a garden filled with sweet smelling Pāricchattaka trees. She cried out when she saw the Asuras had gained their final foothold in the kingdom. The Trāyastriṃśa Devas fought back with all they had. Kelsey scanned the battlefield and recognized Pancaggala. He caught her eye in one startled take, but then turned as one of the leaders of the Asuras struck him with their bow. He shrieked in fury and took a swipe at him. The Asura instantly morphed into a tiger and leapt away, but not before a flock of eagles swooped down upon the tiger and attacked. As one, they converged until they, too, morphed into an army of Yetis, fighting until the Deva shape shifter had been destroyed. Kelsey saw a child’s soul drift up out of the dead body of the Asura and curl away into the air like a wisp of smoke.

  Shapeshifters! Yes, she knew what kind of Asura Deva he was. A Dānaveghasa Asura, a shape-shifting, bow wielding faction of the Asuras who were using the children’s souls as weapons.

  The Yeti with the scarred face stood among the throng and then nodded towards Kelsey before turning his gaze towards the disappearing soul. He then pointed to his chest and then up the mountain. She understood. She had to go up further ahead. Something was up there to help them. She squeezed her thighs together to signal her fedelia. “Ishu, fly.” They flew past Pancaggala and further up the mountain to the crest. There she found what she was looking for.

  Chapter 26

  After Desmond left him, Ari continued up the mountain. He nearly lost his footing in the terrible storm, but he moved determinedly ahead. The battle raged above, and he knew he would not move down the mountain and hide with the Aihikians in the ruined villages where he would be safer. He came to Aihika to save Bianca, and he would succeed or die trying.

  The path narrowed and he had to grip the rock wall so as not to fall over the cliff’s edge. The rock face was slick from the rain, making his progress painstakingly slow. By the end of the twenty-foot path, his fingers bled and he’d broken two nails.

  Ari finally made it to the other end and onto more stable ground. He pushed through the bushes, turned the corner and the path opened up, but what he saw ahead stopped him cold. A young child lay sprawled on the ground. He ran to her side and bent down.

  She couldn’t have been more than three years old. She stared sightlessly up at the raging battle and rain pummeled her precious face, but she did not move or react. She wore only a drenched pink shirt with strawberry fruit designs and a matching pair of shorts, but nothing else.

  Ari took her pulse and found she was alive, but barely. Did the Asuras do this to her? Use her for whatever they needed and then discard her like a piece of garbage? Ari scooped up the little girl in his arms and continued walking. He could not just leave her there.

  The sound of children’s cries met his ears and he pushed through the trees. A clearing opened ahead of him and he came upon a run-down building. When he entered the broken front door, his heart hammered. Even in his most hardened moments, he'd never seen devastation like this.

  Hundreds of pens lined the room and each held the discarded and forgotten bodies of children. Lanterns lit the area from wall sconces, and he could see the children lay naked in the near frigid air. Some were so emaciated he could see their ribs. Others beat at the bars with their hands and heads, reminding him of patients in a sanitarium. Blood and feces covered their little faces and filled the floors of their cages.

  Older children tended to these charges, but they could not do more than push food and water through the bars of the cages. They themselves wore shackles and could only move a scant few feet in any direction at a time.

  “Please help me!” cried a young boy, speaking English. He had a black eye and a split lip, but Ari recognized him immediately from the photos he’d seen. It was Bobby Witherell. He was hurt, but blessedly alive.

  Ari placed the little girl gently onto the floor and rushed to Bobby. He tried to remove his wrist and ankle cuffs, but couldn’t. He had to find a key. “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Bobby nodded. “Kushtaka took me here.”

  Ari pursed his lips. “So I’ve heard. I’m going to find a way to get you out of here. Sit tight, I’ll be right back.” Ari pushed through the throng of prisoners, desperately searching for anything to help remove their restraints.

  That’s when he saw her and his heart pounded.

  Bianca…

  Bianca knelt on the floor at the back wall of the prison. She’d been bound and restrained more than the others had, with wrist, ankle and neck collars along with a strap cinched tightly around her chest. Her frail body was covered with old scars as if she’d been repeatedly beaten. Bald patches revealed parts of her scalp. He watched her reach desperately into the cage next to her and push through a cup of water with the very tips of her fingers. The child inside never moved to take it.

  “Bianca!” Ari hollered. He leaped quickly through the throng and hurried to her side.

  He bent to her and Bianca flinched at his touch. She blinked in confusion. Those beautiful brown eyes didn’t recognize him, and she shrank back in fear as if he were going to hit her.

  He spoke gently. “Bianca, it’s me. It’s Ari and I’ve come to take you away from here.” He spied a set of keys on a rack on the wall across the room. “Hold on, please, I’ll be right back.”

  He felt a touch on his elbow and he paused.

  Bianca stared up at him. Her eyes had cleared and her lips trembled. “My Ari? From… Earth?” Her voice was hoarse as if she hadn’t used it in a long time.

  He gently touched her chin. “Yes, it’s me. I will free you, I promise.” He jumped over a few of the bound children and ran to the wall to gras
p a set of keys. The wall sconces flickered suddenly and Ari whirled around to see an enormous creature looming in the doorway. This beast with six arms and three faces was something Ari had only seen in books.

  Screams echoed all around him. “It’s the Asuras!” Children shrank back into their cages and their charges quivered in their rooted spots.

  “Bianca!” The creature bellowed out Bianca’s name and the sheer volume of it shook the very walls of the building.

  Ari aimed his gun at the Asura. This Deva whose three faces greatly resembled Rajiv Sitaula.

  Sitaula finally spied his daughter and soared across the room towards her. Ari fired his weapon at him, but Sitaula swatted the bullet away as if it were nothing more than an annoying insect. The slug ricocheted back towards Ari and slammed into the wall behind him. Ari threw himself to the floor as wood splintered around him.

  With four of his arms, Sitaula grasped his daughter into his embrace, but instead of tears of joy and happiness at seeing him, she shrieked in pain. Her body contorted awkwardly and her back arched as if she’d been speared from behind. Her tortured shrieks caused the other children to squeal in terror.

  Ari rose and pointed his gun again, but stalled in horror when he saw a shadowy version of Bianca rise from her body. This apparition drifted towards Sitaula and attached itself around the monster, hovering around him and encircling his body like an aura.

  “No! Bianca, no!” Ari hollered. He took out his gun and aimed again, but Sitaula had already fled the building, taking his daughter’s soul with him.

  Bianca’s physical body remained behind where she’d collapsed onto the dirt floor. Ari ran to her side and placed his hands under her shoulders to lift her. Her eyes were open and her mouth was ajar. Spittle dripped from her chin. He cradled her in his arms. “Bianca, talk to me, please.”

  She was unresponsive. Ari frantically unlocked her chains and removed her other restraints. He tossed the keys to Bobby at the front of the room. “Bobby, free them all.” And then he scooped Bianca into his arms. She weighed practically nothing and tears threatened to overwhelm him. He held her to his chest and removed her from the building that had been her prison.

  He stood outside, cast in indecision. The battle still raged above, so he couldn’t go up, but there was the threat of the Asuras below. He had no idea what to do. It was then Dorje suddenly swooped down to his side and landed next to him. Desmond rode atop the steed. The girl he’d been with was no longer with him.

  Desmond stared down at him, his expression hard and unreadable. He nodded at the girl Ari held and his brows furrowed. “What are you doing with her?”

  “I came to save her. A creature, her father, just took her soul.” Ari stared at Desmond. “You came back for me?”

  “I came back for the children and for her. Not you. Now get on and bring her.” Dorje bent low so Ari could hand Bianca to Desmond, and then Ari hopped onto Dorje’s back. Desmond secured Bianca in Ari’s arms and then jumped off his steed to help the children in the building. “Wait here,” he ordered Ari. Desmond moved quickly towards the prison. He jumped back in shock when the door opened and Bobby Witherell walked out, followed by a throng of children.

  He turned to Ari, surprised. “You freed them as well? You didn’t just take what you came for and leave?”

  Ari didn’t respond and just clutched Bianca to his chest.

  “Maybe you do have a soul,” Desmond snarled. He turned to Bobby and some of the other children. “I want all of you to go down the mountain as fast as you can and hide when you see the battle raging at its worst. Use the path through the woods over there.” He pointed to a different trail that would be easier for the children to manage. “It will be steep, but there will be places for you to find cover. And here.” He reached into his pouch and pulled out handfuls of opal bracelets. “Put these on. They will protect you.”

  “Will you come with us?” Bobby asked, taking the bracelets.

  Desmond patted his head. “No, I have to go up the mountain to fight some more, but you can do this. You’re very brave.”

  “There are others still inside. They can’t move.” Bobby’s lips trembled.

  Desmond stared at the building. “I know. There is nothing we can do for them right now. We will try to come back for them.” Thunder rumbled and the sky lit with fire. Desmond turned to

  the children. “Go now, before any of the guards return.” With that, he jumped back on his steed and Dorje lifted up and returned to the sky.

  Chapter 27

  After she’d had Desmond drop her off, Finley stood on the top of the mountain and hid behind a pair of boulders. She toyed with her dagger in one hand and clutched the ripped out sheet of paper in the other. She glanced at the drawing she’d torn from the manuscript. She’d not even replicated this picture in the book she’d created.

  For a moment she simply stared at it, as she had for hours and hours on end, knowing it could mean her death.

  The prophesy…

  The picture’s purpose was clear. There was a battle to be fought. A woman with long, messy brown hair stood on the top of Mount Sumeru, holding a flaming dagger.

  Finley knew that she was the girl in the picture because it looked just like her mother when she’d been young. At first she’d thought it was her mother, but after years with the members of the order studying the manuscript, she knew this was a prophetic depiction. About her. She was going to play a part in this war.

  She returned the picture to the folds of her shirt and leaned back against the boulder to wait.

  Chapter 28

  Kelsey stood at the very top of the mountain. A lake of pure gold rested at the crest next to her. When Kelsey bent to it, Ishu went to sniff it as well, but Kelsey pulled her back. “Don’t drink it, Ishu. It’s poison.”

  Or is it? A faint familiar memory flickered in the back of her mind. Kelsey felt for the nugget in her pocket and caressed it. A vision came to her. I wonder… She bent down and tentatively dipped her finger in the liquid gold and raised it up. A smile spread across her face. Her finger was alight with fire. She raised her hand and waved it around, watching as the flame rippled and danced. There was no pain, no burning… and then she remembered...

  “Tanha, do it again!” Raga and Arati begged.

  Tanha dipped her hand in the liquid gold and when she raised it, her fingers were all on fire. She wiggled them to make them flicker and forced the flames higher. Her younger sisters squealed with delight and clapped at her show.

  Mara stood behind her. “Excellent, Tanha. Now put it out how I showed you,” he instructed.

  Tanha’s eyes flashed in excitement. This was her favorite part. She placed her fingers one by one in her mouth, and her body burned bright with each exquisite lick. When the flames entered her mouth, her body turned golden and fireworks spurted from her body, delighting her sisters.

  “Well done, daughter. That is but one of the powers of the gold. In time, you will learn the rest. It controls not just fire, but all of the creatures in our realm. Remember who you are, always and forever, and it will do you well,” Mara said.

  “Thank you, Father. I will remember.”

  And she did remember at that same moment the Asuras stormed to the top of the mountain. They’d finally defeated the last of the four great kings. They’d beaten back the dragons and bested the Trāyastriṃśa Devas to reclaim their rightful place at the top of the mountain. These creatures were just like her. While they weren’t from the hell realms, they were an unhappy rebirth. They were not human. Kelsey realized she could fight for a millennia to be something else, but at her spiritual core she would always and forever be a Princess from the hell realms. A Goddess of evil. A Demon. The daughter of the beast that controlled the wicked and ruled the creatures in all the hellish kingdoms.

  Many things happened at once. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied Dorje flying up with Desmond on his back, and her heart swelled. Ari sat behind him holding a young woman in his arms. Sh
e saw Pancaggala dragged to the edge of the golden lake, ready to be drowned by the victorious, pompous Asuras. She saw a triumphant Sitaula hovering near her with a soul swirling around him protectively. And she saw Finley emerge from behind a boulder and glare at Sitaula.

  She saw everything.

  Kelsey dipped her fingers back into the golden lake and pulled them out. She wiggled them and flames shot up from each digit. I’m a demon. I will never be anything but.

  She put her fingers in her mouth and new flames erupted in the sky, but not from the battle this time, but from within her. She felt an exquisite relief as she let her powers emerge. Fireworks exploded around her, and the top of the mountain rained burning ash. Desmond and Ari dove off the fedelia and fled under the cover of bushes to protect themselves. The Asura Devas stared at her in delight as she expanded in size, for they recognized her for what she was. She was one of them. Kelsey pushed the power out and felt her body grow, felt her power as she claimed her right as Queen of this realm. The Asuras bowed to her.

  “Come!” She held out her hands to them. “You have earned your place at the top of the mountain and for that you will be rewarded.”

  Desmond stood up and ran forwards. His face was a mask of confusion. “Kelsey, what are you doing? Please don’t do this.”

  “Stand down, Desmond!” She threw a lightning bolt his way. He barely dodged it and fell to the ground, stunned as the Asuras laughed wildly.

  Ari ran to Desmond’s side and tried to help him to his feet. He bent low. “Let her be,” he said, quietly, but Kelsey heard him. She heard everything. “She missed you on purpose. I’m sure of it.”

  Desmond whirled around and punched him. Ari fell backwards to the ground and one of the vials of seeds rolled out of his pocket and came to rest at the edge of the lake.