Then Adri began to walk up the road, and they followed. They walked past broken-down cars that were permanent landmarks, scattered not just along the roadside but also, occasionally, bang in the centre of the road; past broken-down shops and remnants of what must’ve once been busy newspaper stalls; past broken-down ATM machines with their shutters pulled down and padlocked. The place sang of quiet desolation and no witnesses.
A crow cawed loudly in the distance. Adri gently eased one of his hand cannons out of its holster and held it by his side as he walked. He turned back and nodded at Gray.
‘What?’ Gray asked.
Adri sighed. ‘Keep that goddamned camera in and carry the shotgun.’
Gray nodded. Maya offered to carry the shotgun so Gray could continue taking his pictures. Gray wasn’t willing to relinquish his newly found weapon so easily, but Maya insisted with sibling finality. Grudgingly, Gray gave in.
The sense of bleak increased as they stepped past the twin black gates of the university which, once proud, were now rusty and decaying, vines choking every inch of space. Beyond the gates was the empty university campus, nursed only by the elements, its buildings, though they still stood, all weak and crumbling. It looked unvisited for years. A road went down as far as the eye could see, diverging into various different directions. Old weathered buildings everywhere. Maya and Gray immediately realised that like most of New Kolkata, even their college had been modelled after the original one; they could recognise the buildings and the turns. Adri confirmed this.
‘Your college in New Kolkata is built according to this design. So tell me where the Demonology department is.’
‘This way,’ Gray said, glancing at Maya, who silently followed, taciturn again, just barely being able to lift the heavy shotgun.
They passed a series of buildings, took a short cut through a huge field, and then walked on a cobblestone path, passing more abandoned, broken-down cars and an old tank model. There was no sign of any life around as they walked.
‘This place is too silent,’ Maya spoke suddenly.
‘Yeah, and it’s pretty much freaking me out,’ Gray muttered.
Even the trees—there were quite a lot of them—were silent to the passing wind. They grew incredibly tall and thick with no gardeners around to control their growth, often crashing into buildings and weaving their branches through windows and collapsed ceilings, emerging out of roofs. Vegetation had almost entirely taken over the campus. Wild grass grew high in what had earlier been a manicured lawn and even the smallest of cobblestones they walked on was lined with moss. Adri had told the siblings to expect this sort of a plant infestation—the Old City had gone through drastic changes in its isolation, with parts of it being transformed into complete forests, while others got submerged under water.
Maya was beginning to understand why people avoided JU. Dread. An inexplicable feeling of being watched. Thoughts of sudden and brutal ends. She could never have come here alone and unarmed. She understood Adri a lot better now, but she realised he was taking them through here because of something he wanted to see, a selfish personal interest. The location coincided, and that made things easier for her; she did not speak out. Her apprehension was mounting high, and it had made her sullen and silent the entire day.
When the Demonology Wing finally came in sight—a lone building at the end of the path—Adri slowed down, and half raising his weapon, he led the way, cautiously and slowly. His eyes darted everywhere, every window with a broken glass pane, every place that was in shadow, every place that he couldn’t see. The building itself was a dark motley green-grey, covered entirely as it was with moss and vines. The tall, wooden front doors were ajar, and nothing could be seen except for the yawning darkness within. Adri approached the doors with his weapon completely raised—one hand supported by the other—and pushed the door open. Gently. It swung inward with a loud creak, and everything was silent once more.
Adri peeped inside. Ahead of him lay a dark corridor, the darkness occasionally broken by dim sunlight trickling in through an open window, or a crack in the wall. He looked at the light and realised the sun would set soon; they could not, under any circumstance, linger around the university after dark. He needed to hurry. He took a step inside. Splash. Looking down, Adri saw water running all over the black and white chequered floor. Moving inside as quietly as he could, Adri made his way to an old, faded notice board on the wall right opposite the door and found exactly what he was looking for—a list of all the professors in the department and their offices. Professor Sural. Third floor.
‘Third floor,’ Adri whispered. Maya pointed towards a staircase on their right and they began to move. When they reached the staircase, Adri noticed that it went down as well—this place had a basement then, he noted. He started walking up the stairs, gun raised. It took them about ten minutes to find the professor’s office; their watchfulness slowed them down. When Adri entered the professor’s room, the first thing he noticed was a setting sun, beyond a broken window. He swore softly, holstered his hand cannon, and looked around the small office.
It was as forsaken as the rest of the building. A small table lay next to the window. Three chairs, barely standing. A bookshelf. The weather had not spared any of them; every paper that lay about had been washed in muddy water and dried in harsh sunlight. The books crumbled in Adri’s hand as he thumbed through them. He slowly let go of his backpack, dropping it to the floor, and began scanning the bookshelf with greater care for anything that might resemble his father’s books. Nothing familiar. He hoped the professor had not kept them on the bookshelf; nothing on it was readable any longer. He carefully studied the spines. Nothing. He turned and began to look around the room.
‘What are you looking for?’ Gray asked.
‘A book,’ Adri said.
Then he saw it. A portrait of the professor mounted on the wall behind his desk. Adri took a moment to look at Professor Sural’s face, to look at the shining eyes, firm jaw, the hint of a smile playing around his lips, before yanking it off the wall rudely. There, behind it. The safe Smith had talked about. It was built into the wall—comparatively untouched by the elements—with a crude handle and a keyhole. Adri wondered if it was magical.
‘Open,’ he spoke in the Old Tongue. Nothing happened. Mechanical, then. He took a step back. ‘Appear, Sh’aar,’ he spoke softly in the Old Tongue once more. In about exactly a second, he felt its presence in the room.
‘On this charge I get my freedom,’ a voice spoke from nowhere. It sounded bored.
‘Oh my God!’ Gray exclaimed.
‘Open the lock,’ Adri said, ‘and have your freedom.’
The safe lock clicked open, and simultaneously Adri felt Sh’aar’s presence leave for the higher place.
‘One of the protector spirits I had commissioned to defend us. Don’t worry about it,’ Adri said without turning around, his hand on the handle.
‘You let it go?’ Gray asked.
‘Yes.’
‘You still have more, right?’
‘Yes.’
Adri opened the safe and the books caught his eye immediately. The Gunsmith had been right. They were here—three books, clad in black. Adri picked up the one with the letter H on its spine and opened it in the dying sunlight. Heretic, Hoensach, Hoggath, and finally, Horsemen.
Death is by far the most interesting of the four. There have been few victims of Death, however. Over the years, Death has reportedly taken three known people: Aniket Das, Kinsheal Naidu, Roland Thomas.
That was all. Three names he had never heard before. Nothing else. Adri read and re-read the short passage, the shortest of all the descriptions in the fat book. Vexation gripped him and he threw the book against the wall with a scream; it hit the wall and fell heavily, a couple of pages floating to the floor. Adri scratched his head, sweeping back his hair repeatedly without realising it. Dead end. Three names. Maybe links. But he had no clue where he could find out more about these people. No clue at all.
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Focus, Adri. First things first. You need to get out of here, along with the siblings. The sun has gone, and you need to go.
He took a deep breath and looked up. Gray was staring at him. And Maya, Maya was not in the room.
‘Where’s Maya?’ he exclaimed in shock.
Gray looked around him, surprised. ‘She was here just now!’
‘Bloody hell,’ Adri muttered, and drawing a shooter, strode past Gray out into the corridor. Gray followed him hurriedly.
‘She has the shotgun,’ Gray said.
They would’ve heard it go off. Adri looked up and down the darkening corridor. There was no sign of her, no trace suggesting where she could have gone. Or been taken.
‘MAYA!’Gray shouted, panic in his voice.
Adri looked around sharply for a reaction. Nothing. His problems were increasing. The sun had set and the last dredges of light were leaving the sky. Visibility in the small corridor was declining rapidly. Adri didn’t want to use the second spirit so soon, but he was at a disadvantage. ‘Arrive, Masir,’ he commanded. ‘Fireball. Show me the way.’
The spirit materialised as a translucent orb suspended in midair, a few feet from Adri’s head. As Adri and Gray looked at it, it caught fire and began to burn. Light returned to the corridor. Adri moved and the fireball moved with him, keeping a distance. Removing the other shooter from its holster, Adri wordlessly handed it to Gray. Gray was momentarily thrilled to hold the majestic weapon, but it did not show on his face. He shouted his sister’s name again. They walked down the corridor, opening door after door, peering into offices, classrooms, broom closets, all empty and dilapidated.
‘We-we can search faster if we split up,’ Gray muttered.
Adri shook his head. ‘Stick to me. Like glue.’
They checked the whole of the third floor, but found no one. Whatever it was that had carried Maya off, it had made no noise at all, and it had left no traces; Adri wondered what it could be. He had heard tales and speculations, but had encountered very few beings in these grounds to be sure. Unless—
‘Gray,’ Adri said, turning to a very worried Gray staring into the darkness. ‘Gray, tell me, did Maya have any work here in the Demonology building? Any agenda? Anything she could want to find out?’
Gray was taken aback. ‘Maya would have told me if she wanted something from here.’
‘But supposing she didn’t,’ Adri pursued. ‘Supposing she wanted to find out something about some professor, or some course, where would she get that information?’
‘Um, that would be Records and Research. Basement. Always the basement.’
Adri turned and ran, the fireball whooshing along. Gray ran after him, overtaking him and shooting down the stairs. When he reached the ground floor, Adri found Gray staring at the darkness beyond the steps leading down to the basement.
‘Adri, there is something down there,’ he spoke softly.
‘What did you see?’
‘Something moved in there. I’m sure.’ For just a second, his voice trembled.
‘I know you don’t like the dark,’ Adri said. ‘But you have to come with me. You’re not safe anywhere else.’
Gray shook his head. ‘If Maya’s in there, I have to go.’
Adri led the way. Darkness had descended in entirety now. The sun was gone, and along with it all sunlight. They were descending into the subterranean in Jadavpur University at night. Sheer madness. But Maya was in danger, owing to his carelessness, his distraction with the book. He would pull her out—or find her body. He bit his lip and furiously hoped it wouldn’t come to that. The fireball floated a little ahead of them, lighting up peeling walls and thick, dirty spider webs, and footprints—someone had been through here recently.
‘Footprints,’ Adri said.
‘Maya?’ Gray asked immediately.
‘Not sure. Stay close to me and the fireball.’
‘These spirits, they obey you?’ Gray asked, looking at the floating fire.
‘Not yet,’ Adri replied. ‘I give trapped spirits freedom in exchange of a certain task.’
‘Oh.’
‘Be on your toes. I don’t like this.’ Adri considered the possibilities, none of them pretty. Silently, he removed some bullets from his shooter and added other ones in their place. The darkness increased as they headed deeper down; it tried to envelop them, but was held at bay by the lone fireball. Gray looked behind him and saw complete darkness. There was no way back. Everything was dead silent except for their footsteps which rang loud, echoing for long spaces.
Something came into view at last, right at the end of the stairs, something that sprung out of the darkness almost magically—a door, wooden, with a faded glass sign on it that said RECORDS.
They opened the door—the creaking resonating for ages—and walked through. Neither the walls nor the ceiling were visible in the light of the fireball—all they could feel was a void, a complete lack of anything solid within their reach, save for the ground beneath their feet. Adri looked down. The ground wasn’t wood or cement, it was raw rock, dirty and unpolished. He inspected the complete darkness on every side; he realised Gray must be terrified.
‘I saw something move earlier, I’m sure of it,’ Gray whispered, right on cue. ‘Oh God.’
‘Easy, now. Just wait for my signal before you go trigger-happy on anything.’
Gray nodded solemnly. His eyes were wide, fearful, looking for activity. It came soon. They walked a little bit in that dark when they heard it. The movement. Soft snapping noises in rapid succession. First to their right, then to their left. Surrounding them. The fireball rose above Adri’s head automatically, as if sensing the danger. The noises gradually stopped. Nothing happened for the longest time. They were being watched.
Adri spoke first. ‘Come on out, now. We know all too well you’re there.’ No riposte; everything stayed quiet. ‘Come on,’ Adri said again, lowering his hand cannon. Silence once more. Then the soft snapping noises began again.
Adri had recognised the creature the first time he had heard the noise. An Ancient. He charted possible outcomes. Adri had no experience in fighting Ancients at all; in fact, he knew of Tantrics who had died at their hands. But he was skilled at negotiating with all manners of creatures, and he tried to think of how to approach the problem. For the first time he noticed how frantic Gray was with the gun he’d given him.
‘Give me that,’ Adri whispered, snatching the revolver from Gray and holstering it. ‘There is an Ancient here. Both my guns are useless.’
‘What is an—’ Gray began and stuttered to a stop as a shape slowly slithered into the light. A human skeleton waist up. Bones old, dry, and yellowing with scraps of cloth hanging on to some of them. Waist down, the backbone widened out—sharp needle-like ribs jutting out—and continued downwards, curling serpentine to support the creature’s entire weight. Its face was exactly like a human skull, except for the prominent canines gleaming in the torchlight. Its fingers ended in sharp claw-like points, dancing gently; whenever it moved, its entire bony structure stirred, making the soft snapping noise that had first alerted them to its presence. Its meandering end moved into the darkness and out of sight.
Adri looked at it. Horror. He realised he was facing all of this just to get the Horseman off his back. Here was a different death, but death nevertheless.
The Ancient observed him and Gray silently, continuously moving in the same place, the edges of its sharp tail shifting, slithering.
‘The girl, is she dead?’ Adri asked.
Darkness, in eyes hollow. Silence. The Ancient stayed where it was, looking at them, swaying gently.
Gray, scared out of his mind and frozen in his place, wondered dimly if what stood in front of him was going to reply to Adri. Did he really expect this monstrosity to have a voice?
‘No,’ the creature whispered back and a shiver ran through Gray. The whisper was nothing more than wind channelled through a dead bone throat, given a certain shape, through a certa
in utterance. A rush of cold, and the words stayed longer than any echo. He looked at it despite himself, still frozen. Its entire body was just bones, yet it stood, it talked. At the same time, there was a pounding sense of relief.
‘Well, prove it!’ Gray whispered.
The Ancient turned its neck to look at Gray. Then, slowly, another Ancient entered the circle of light, holding Maya’s limp body tight in its hands. She was unconscious, and it held her up from her shoulders; her legs dangled loosely. A ragged doll. The Ancient’s hideous face was inches from hers. Its fangs old, sharp.
‘Did you guys take a bite out of her yet?’ Adri asked, his hands slowly going behind his back. Gray noticed, but the Ancients didn’t.
‘No,’ it replied again in the same hoarse whisper. ‘Not yet.’
The corner of Gray’s eye strained to see what Adri was doing. He realised that behind his back, Adri was turning the chamber of his revolver. Once. Twice. Thrice.
‘Well then, clearly you intend to make a deal, Ancient,’ Adri spoke again, slowly bringing his hands to his sides again, the movement almost imperceptible.
‘You are a Tantric,’ the Ancient moaned. ‘You can enter places denied to us, places cursed. There is one such place you must enter.’
‘What do you want from there?’
‘A crypt guards the body of one of our enemies, Mazumder his name is. He is long dead, this vampire hunter, but we must rip his body to shreds, to little pieces!’ Here the Ancient’s voice rose, high in its tiredness, its age. ‘His skin needs to adorn our walls, his eyeballs need to roll around for our amusement! Get us the body, and we will give you back this human.’ It finished and drew backwards, gently moving its long fingers.
‘How far is this crypt?’
‘Park Street,’ the Ancient rasped. ‘Surely you know the way? It is a day’s walk to the graveyard, Tantric, so I shall expect you back by tomorrow night. If you are not back by then. . .’ It looked at Maya, and the Ancient holding her opened its mouth, revealing its canines, inches from her bare neck.
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