by H. K Oby
Gulping loudly, he nodded. He trusted the librarian even more strongly now than before as the man’s advice had actually worked. With that thought, what he had achieved came back to him, and a tiny speck of confidence bloomed in him.
If worst came to worst, I could at least run…
“Good. I know you’re afraid, but this is exciting! It feels as if I’m young again. I’ll gather everything you may need. The three packs will be ready in a few minutes. Meanwhile – “
“Wait, three packs? Why? I’ll go alone.”
The old vanara paused mid-sentence, his eyebrows creasing with confusion.
“Oh, no, you won’t!”
Amaira’s voice that suddenly appeared out of nowhere scared the very soul out of him. Jumping back, he hit his back on the wall and winced, looking all around for the source of the ghost she must now be.
Scratching the fur below his chin, the librarian wryly said, “Oh, this is awkward. I thought you knew.”
Her voice appeared again, and this time, Amin identified the source: it was coming from his back. Reaching behind him, he felt along his shirt and latched onto something solid that he plucked and put in front of his eyes, all while listening to Amaira’s heated words.
“I said: oh no, you won’t, Amin no-last-name! We are coming with you! Rishi isn’t here, but I’m confident I can speak for him! There’s no way you’re going on such an adventure yourself! Haven’t you heard the stories? It is on journeys like these that new powers are obtained, friendships are strengthened, and experiences worth treasuring for a lifetime are gained. The patalas are also supposed to be filled with precious herbs that can boost your strength! Besides, how did you even think we would let you go into such peril without backing you up? You might have accomplished something great, but don’t forget that the two of us are far stronger! We will be coming along no matter what you say!”
Amin could only stare, bemused, at the tiny object as big as a fingernail that looked like a seashell. The bizarreness of the situation threw him completely off-guard for some time, but when he recovered, he couldn’t believe what he had just heard.
She was listening to everything. Even after hearing that stuff about the rakshasas, she’s ready to come with me? Why? That’s just… dumb! If I were faced with the same decision, would I do what she is doing?
He suddenly found himself not wanting to answer the question, so he moved on, coughing subconsciously, assuring himself that it was absurd to think something like that would ever happen, so there was no reason to finish the thought.
Another cough sounded from in front of him, and Amin looked up to find the librarian with a hesitant set to his face.
“I don’t really want to interrupt this special moment you’re having, but I have to insist that you go back to your dwelling, gather your companions — only if you decide to take them along — and then come back here in half an hour. By then, I’ll have collected everything. Go. The doors will not stop you on your way out.”
“Yes! I’m already here. I’ll go get Rishi by the time you get here. If you even think of running off, I’ll find you and spank you until your ass is as red as a rose! Got it?”
Amin looked at the librarian who had widened his eyes in the same manner as himself on hearing the threat. The old vanara chuckled merrily on meeting Amin’s gaze, and after blushing furiously, he said, “All right, fine!”
“Good!”
The seashell fell silent after the response. Pocketing it after telling himself he could find out what it was later, he saluted the librarian and walked out.
He was lost in thought on the way back to his quarters. As soon as he entered his hut, Amaira’s livid glare greeted him, and with his hands raised in alarm, he stopped and took a step back.
Rishi stood beside her, his eyes looking at them both with confusion. It looked like he had just gotten here; sure enough, this was confirmed when Amaira hmphed angrily and said, “I’ll fill him. Sit down and don’t move.”
Following him with her red-hot gaze until he was on the bed, Amaira dragged Rishi to the door and started speaking to him in hushed tones, ignoring his existence altogether.
Leaving them to their discussion, Amin got comfortable on the bed and sorted through his thoughts. He still couldn’t believe that the two wanted to come along with him, and his mind began to go down familiar patterns.
There must be some gain in it for them. Wait, didn’t she talk about gaining power and strength? That must be it. They don’t want me to grow stronger than them by going outside. Maybe that’s actually possible. Yes, there is no way they care enough for me to risk their lives. That must be it!
He still felt uneasy, so he continued to think, exploring his emotions and trying to figure out the reason behind his hesitation.
Is it because I actually feel guilty as I’ll be putting them in danger? That’s absurd. They won’t even be in peril: I trust the librarian, and he says it’ll be empty. Mostly. Okay, I definitely need their help, so I’ll take them along, but if there is danger, I’m not responsible. And if things get hairy, I’ll just run! I can grab them, too, if that happens. And if my siddhi works, of course. After all, using it once is just the first step. And if it doesn’t…dammit, I’ve gotta stop overthinking this! If they want to come, it’s up to them. I’ll just say yes.
“No. I will go alone.”
Fuck! What is wrong with me?! Oh, well. What’s done is done. At least they won’t drag me down…
The words that spilled out of his mouth were the exact opposite of his thoughts. This was even the second time it was happening; it was irritating to see the disconnect between his head and his heart, and after all this was done, he vowed to sit down and find out just why the hell this was so.
Looking up, he expected Rishi to be happy on hearing him, but what he saw made his eyebrows climb as far up as they could go.
Hitting the palm of his left hand with his right fist with an audible ‘thwack’, Rishi put on the bravest face he could muster and declared, “We are going. If you insist on being this way, we will tie you up until we get out of Ayodhya. I wish we didn’t have to do this, but there is no other way. Agarwals do not abandon friends in aid, no matter how scared they feel.”
Amin froze and stared, imagining himself tied up like a helpless lamb and hoisted on Amaira’s shoulders, his mouth gagged so tightly he could only mumble his pleas. He looked at them both for a moment, meeting their unwavering gazes for a few seconds before throwing his hands in the air and saying, “Okay, fine! But it’ll be dangerous. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!”
Amaira’s eyes finally cooled. Patting Rishi’s shoulder, she said idly, “And if danger arrives, you’re welcome to cower behind us while we take care of it. Now, let’s go! We’re going on an adventure!”
As she marched out of the door with Rishi following behind her like the assistant to a general off to battle, Amin couldn’t help but smile. The uneasy feeling still remained, but he just told it that things could not have played out in any other way. Besides, they were just coming for their own gain, so he really wasn’t responsible no matter what happened.
Add some last line that feels apt here
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“SO WHEN DID you put this thing on me, anyway? And what the hell is it?”
Catching up to the two outside, Amin took out the seashell from his pocket and held it out to Amaira. A smile quirking up the corner of her mouth, she picked it up and took out another piece that looked exactly identical. She put them together and they combined into a closed shell, the seam where they joined so perfectly hidden that it wasn’t visible no matter how much he searched.
Pocketing the entire thing, she replied, “It was a gift for babysitting the baby whose pacifier you sucked on so contentedly. Her mother had an emergency and her father was away, and I happened to be there. I have no idea how they have it, or who made it, or whether it's common. It’s a pretty nifty thing. The half that touches skin transmits, always, so the o
ther half must be on something inorganic, like your shirt. I stuck it on when I hugged you. Amaira 007, reporting for duty.”
Amin scowled at her mock salute. He didn’t appreciate being eavesdropped on, and he vowed to always keep an eye on what this mischievous she-devil was doing, even when she tried to act like the most innocent person on the planet.
Speeding forward and rounding on them, Amin spread his legs as if getting ready for a bout and gave voice to the thought that had just occurred to him.
“Ok, we’re going on this adventure together, but there should be some rules. Outside, you will follow my lead. You will do what I ask without question. I have more experience than the both of you and ten others like you combined when it comes to carrying out a mission in a hostile place. There is such a thing as a thief’s instinct, and it has saved my skin more times than I can count. If letting me lead is a problem, tell me now.”
The two looked at each other when he was done. Amaira grinned, and Rishi sighed.
“What?” Amin asked with a tinge of irritation.
“She wins. She made a bet that you would talk about something like this and insist on leading before we left Ayodhya. My guess was that it would be after leaving Ayodhya. I lose, so I’m going to be thrown by my legs like I threw her in our spar. She can be really petty…”
Amin raised one eyebrow, turning to Amaira who punched Rishi on his shoulder and said, “You’re the one who lost! I’m not petty…I just want to know how it feels! Anyway, don’t look at me like that. You don’t realize it, but you have a fierce leadership streak. You HAVE to lead, or you go crazy. It was pretty obvious when we were training for your spar, too.”
I do? Well, I have been through a lot more stuff…and I did naturally transition to becoming someone who runs scams instead of taking part in them. Damn, she read me well.
“Well, I’m just glad that’s sorted out. Come on. And let’s talk later; I have some planning to do.”
They nodded. Amin turned around and set a fast pace, quickly creating and storing away different ways to use all their siddhis to tackle different situations.
For some reason, the vanaras were absent when they reached the library. Only remarking on the strangeness of the empty clearing for a moment, they went in, and Amin headed straight to Row H.
Both of his companions were stunned when they saw those bookcases move, and that surprise turned into shock when he touched the stone in the room beyond and entered the one filled with cupboards. The librarian stood ready inside, three backpacks on the floor in front of him, and when they arrived, he smiled and said, “Finally! No time to waste. Go through here. You will reach a beach; there, open your bag, Amin, and you’ll find notes in my hand along with a few devices that I think will be of great help. Good luck.”
“Thank you.”
The full weight of what they were about to do seemed to crash down on them, then. In silence, they watched as the elder taped on one of the stones on the ground and made a hole appear in which a ladder could be seen, descending into darkness.
With one last nod to the librarian and a glance to ensure neither of his two friends wanted to back out, Amin made his way down it. It was a metal ladder with not a hint of rust. He caught the rungs tightly and kept going lower and lower until he wondered just how the hell he could reach a beach by apparently traveling straight to the underworld. Just a few seconds after that thought, his feet touched the ground. At that exact moment, lamps burst alight behind him, revealing a passageway behind him.
It was a half-sphere tunnel with a flat path, the curving ceiling and walls all built with the same grey stones as the library. The air carried the faintest hint of salt, along with the staleness that came when it was trapped for a long time in the same place. He waited for the other two to arrive; when they stepped down and took in their surroundings, they met his gaze and set off.
Their footsteps echoed and none of them were in the mood to say anything, each one absorbed in preparing themselves mentally for what lay ahead, the effects of the librarian’s words still present in their minds. Amin glanced at Rishi’s and Amaira’s faces occasionally, when the path curved. Amaira looked determined, as if ready to grow in size if anything dangerous popped out of the walls in front of them, and Rishi wavered between periods of extreme bravery and fear, the latter accompanied by his entire body shaking as if it wanted to go back.
Amin felt a strange sense of anticipation as he was finally going to find out just why the gods hated him so much. Of course, thoughts of gigantic rakshasas cutting him into pieces sometimes made him shiver even though there wasn’t a breeze, but he kept stopping those thoughts as soon as they appeared and just focused on putting one leg in front of the other.
Around ten minutes after starting down the passageway, the faint sound of lapping waves reached them. He had noticed that the corridor had been sloping up steadily; due to all the turns, he wasn’t sure which direction they were going in, but it looked like they were close to the beach the librarian had mentioned.
Another minute later, the end of the passage came into view. Slowing down their pace and meeting each other’s eyes to ensure that they were all alert, they inched towards the edge and stopped to gawk at the broad, spotless beach in front of them.
Lazy clouds moved in the sky, obscuring the moon, but the place was well lit by the moonlight that filtered through from the full moon. It formed a faint rainbow where it hid behind the clouds. The white sand glittered as if each mote was a pearl. The idle waves of transparent water looked inviting, a rock formation visible far away which was the cause behind the tourist-worthy spot.
Stepping out of the passage, Amin looked around and saw that they had been walking through a hole bored straight into a mountain that rose up for at least a few hundred feet.
The other two stepped out and raised their heads, too, tracing the greenery-specked mountain face. Leaving them to it and feeling his toes curl automatically to feel the soft sand below them, Amin opened the drawstring of the backpack that would have been right at home in a shop outside and found a piece of paper at the very top.
A message was written on it in an elegant script. Squinting, he read, “Right below this paper is a small figure. Pick it up, squeeze it hard and throw it at least 10 feet away. After it transforms, touch it, close your eyes and think the words “the location of sage name”. It shall do the rest; I have already tinkered with it to make sure it knows where to go. On the way, I suggest you acquaint yourself with the two other objects I’ve packed that are common for all three of you.”
Putting his hand inside while reading, Amin felt something half the size of his fist with sharp edges and drew it out. Putting the paper back in the bag and bringing it to his eyes, he saw that it was a miniature of something he had gawped at before: the flying ship that had carried the traditional delegation to his initiation.
Tracing the intricate, archaic Hindu friezes and cornices with his fingers, he wondered what the transformation might be.
No way… It can’t be what I’m thinking, right?
Feeling the gaze of the two behind him, he shrugged and decided to find out. Squeezing until the sharp edges almost broke his skin, he threw the thing to his left, to a spot on the beach that he gauged was at least fifteen feet away for good measure.
In front of their eyes, the thing grew bigger even while it was in the air. When it settled onto the ground with an audible ’thud’, it was the exact item Rishi and Amin had seen on that eventful day.
Walking forward and hearing the others follow, their bare feet crunching on the sand, Amin reached the ship and stepped onto the smooth stairs that faced him. Running his hands along the golden, ornately carved railing, he looked at the other two and found the same speechless amazement in their eyes that filled his own mind.
When they were on the golden central podium, they all looked up to find the underside of the four-sided dome that also looked like it was made of solid gold. The fluted columns that connected the mai
n railing to the ceiling were soft to the touch, as if they weren’t really made from metal.
Man, with this much gold, I could…concentrate! Ignore this tacky thing and focus on the mission!
Keeping his hand on one of them, he closed his eyes and recited the words written on the slip of paper.
A gasp made him snap them open. It had come from Amaira who was pointing outside, her lips quivering. Following her hand, he saw the object of her reaction: a blue, semi-transparent bubble had appeared around the entire device, and a second later, it floated into the air, rising steadily.
The three of them clutched either the railing or the columns even though they didn’t lose their balance. In fact, on the inside, it didn’t feel like they were moving at all.
The ship shot in the direction of the moon in an instant, accelerating to such a speed that they passed birds that hadn’t even been visible from where they stood in just a few seconds. Even though it felt as if he was standing somewhere and looking at a camera feed from inside a flying plane, a gleeful grin came on his lips.
He couldn’t help it; he loved flying that much.
The smile disappeared when the ship lurched to a halt over an unremarkable patch of water, then plunged down.
Amin closed his eyes involuntarily, expecting fully to become drenched, but when no such thing happened, he opened them and found that the water stayed outside the round blue layer.
“Incredible, indeed. Look at this architecture and those designs! Each line is perfect! I even see ratios everywhere! Perfectly worthy of a vimana. Oh, wait, you guys haven’t heard of them. A vimana is an ancient flying ship that was supposed to have been used, famously, by the villainous Ravana to kidnap the wife of Rama, who was the avatar of the Great God Vishnu. Amin, who is that librarian? How was he able to give us this? I heard that there were only three true vimanas in all of Ayodhya. They have all been passed down for thousands of years. Imitations have been made, but they’re far from perfect. This one is so amazing that I’m assuming it’s one of the originals, crafted millennia ago. I can’t believe we’re flying in it. This is amazing!”
