‘You were the only survivor?’ Gray asked suddenly.
Natasha looked at him directly for the first time. ‘No,’ she said at length. ‘No, two Commandos also made it out.’
‘Adri, no offense, but I need to eat,’ Gray mumbled to Adri, who immediately felt guilty. He did not sense much danger here, not until the reinforcements arrived anyway.
‘We all need to eat, I guess. Have been hungry a long time, and it’s been a horrible day,’ Adri said. ‘Natasha, I guess we will take you up on your offer.’
She nodded and led them through a couple of buildings and then up another. They entered through a dusty garage and went up three floors through a thin metal staircase until they reached a roof choked with potted plants, the sky open above them. Natasha led them to a stash of blankets. Two Commandos slept quietly in a corner. Fayne gently lay Maya down on a blanket and stood up, looking around. He scanned the rest of the buildings from all four sides of the roof, determining their position and all possible exit routes.
The Commandos had excellent supplies. And even though the food was all cold, Adri and Gray wolfed everything down in minutes, not bothering with washing hands or even taking their shoes off—they’d laid hands on meat and fresh vegetables after a long time. Fayne sat on the highest point the roof had to offer; a cement water tank. He looked down at them silently and then up at the city, taking swigs from his hip flask. Natasha watched the duo eat with innocent wonder.
‘You guys were starving!’ she exclaimed.
Gray tried to reply and nearly choked. Somehow managing to swallow what he had been chewing on, he chose to down more food rather than reply to the Sorceress’s comment. Adri managed a few words.
‘How long have you been here?’
‘We arrived two days ago and the massacre happened the day we arrived. There were still a few people left alive in the Settlement; we were rescuing them from a fire when the Mask caught us by surprise,’ Natasha paused. ‘You didn’t answer my question about what you are doing here. This is government business here, though to be honest, I am in no mood to detain or arrest you.’
‘Can I just be done with this?’ Adri pleaded with a mouth full of food.
‘Of course,’ Natasha waved it aside. ‘Eat in peace.’ She moved off to the other end of the roof with a pair of binoculars.
‘She seems pleasant,’ Gray mumbled, chewing.
‘She can’t know our reason for being here,’ Adri said warningly in a low voice. ‘Her priorities, after all, lie with MYTH. She is just looking to end the Necrotic.’
Gray nodded and that was the main thing; Adri knew Fayne never talked out of place. It would, in all probability, have been an unwarned Gray who would have let their secret out. Natasha could be handled easily, but she had been kind to them, and Adri did not want to go against her. Better they pass through.
You should eat more regularly, fool. You hardly keep your strength up, the Wraith hissed.
‘Oh look who’s getting motherly,’ Adri snapped.
I don’t want you to die of starvation at the very least.
‘Then let me eat, Mazumder.’
The Wraith fell silent, seeing a sort of point in the logic.
‘How’s the Wraith doing?’ Gray asked.
‘The usual. He’s been quiet lately,’ Adri replied.
They took their time eating. Once done, they washed their hands and faces, and slowly walked around the terrace, feeling much better. Adri reached for a smoke as he walked towards where Natasha stood watching the Bridge with her binoculars.
‘What’s on the Bridge?’ he asked.
‘Checking for movement on the other side,’ she replied without lowering the binoculars. ‘It’s getting too isolated here for some reason. The survivors are becoming more and more sparse, the streets are getting emptier. Rumour has it that they’re all moving off someplace deep south, as near New Kolkata as they can get. Some bands have been trying to get into the new city but to no avail, of course. It’s like they’re all afraid of something.’
Adri peered at the Howrah Bridge, now silhouetted against the setting sun, a thing of unbelievable might and beauty. ‘Any movements then?’ he asked.
‘None,’ she replied. ‘Would you know something about this migration, Sen? Because I’m getting the distinct feeling that you’re withholding information.’
Adri scratched his dirty hair, and grinned. ‘I don’t know what you’re implying.’
Natasha shook her head. ‘Don’t give me crap, Sen. Stop sidestepping my questions and give me one straight answer.’
‘It’s got something to do with Doomsday,’ Adri said, breathing out smoke.
‘The Apocalypse?’ Natasha asked, surprised.
Adri nodded. ‘The end of all things and the beginning of a new era.’
‘But that has always been a stupid series of stories. How can it inspire such fear?’
‘Hate to be the one to break it to you, Nat, but there have been signs. The storytellers have been telling stories of the Apocalypse. Madmen have been singing songs, there have been messages scrawled on walls.’
‘Weird, but not as weird as you calling me Nat. I feel like we’re back at the academy.’
‘Should I stop?’
Natasha thought for a moment. ‘No. Life is complex now, Sen. Fast. Goodness knows I can’t spend time with old friends like I would want to.’
‘I was never really a friend to you, though.’
‘Yes, but my friends called me Nat.’ She sighed. ‘I know it’s stupid, I don’t know why I even commented on that. Here you are telling me about something that has caused mass panic and here I am—’
‘Hey—it’s okay,’ Adri said, trying to sound reassuring. ‘I mean, we are human after all, right?’
Natasha looked at Adri, her face torn between a smile and a grimace. Adri looked back, serious; a dry tune broke the silence. Adri and Natasha jumped and looked behind them where Gray sat in a corner, playing his violin.
‘Is it safe here? The violin, I mean,’ Adri ventured.
Natasha shrugged her shoulders. ‘Nothing moves,’ she said. ‘The Mask is in the next Settlement, and I’m not angry at anything else.’
‘I’ll let him play, then. For his peace,’ Adri said.
‘Who are they?’ Natasha asked. ‘Who’s the man in the mask?’
‘This one here, with the violin, is Gray, a friend and photographer, though his camera is long gone. The other one, the man with the mask—an assassin from Ahzad, Fayne.’
‘Whaaa—’ Natasha’s eyes went wide and Adri interrupted her.
‘He’s with me. He’s okay.’
‘He’s an assassin of Ahzad?’
‘Calm down. He’s okay.’
‘He’s not okay. He’s giving me the creeps!’ Natasha hissed in a low voice.
‘Err, he can probably hear you, he’s got excellent senses—’ Adri mumbled, looking at the floor. ‘But then again, he’s on my side. He’s not someone you have to worry about. Nat, listen to me, listen—’
Gray was definitely out of practice. His bow moved with reluctance as he tried to follow a tune he couldn’t. Nevertheless, he kept playing as evening descended upon the rooftop, and Adri tried to calm down an almost hysterical Natasha.
‘Why do you always have to end up doing these weird things with these weird people? Why couldn’t you simply stick to your MYTH assignments and stay a Tantric for the state?’ Natasha was almost screaming.
‘Let’s not take it there, c’mon! You don’t mean all this!’ Adri said in a voice as hushed as possible. The two Commandos were beginning to stir.
‘Is she an old flame?’ Fayne asked Gray from the water tank.
‘Stole my thoughts,’ Gray replied. ‘She could be. The way they are squabbling; there’s good chemistry there.’
‘The way she accuses, myrkho,’ Fayne said. ‘The way she accuses gives away a lot.’ And the assassin laughed. It was a low, rumbling laugh that was short and did not last, but Gray
did respect it by pausing his playing for a moment and looking at Fayne in wonder. It was the first time the assassin had laughed, and somehow Gray felt better now that he had.
The two Commandos, woken up by all the noise, got up and were taken aback by the company; one of them even drew a shooter in alarm. Natasha took a moment to brief them about the visitors before returning to Adri, who was telling her about why they were here.
‘The bloody hypocrite,’ Gray said, trying a new play pattern. ‘Does he think I can’t hear him speak?’
‘And you can?’ Fayne asked, now sitting beside him.
‘In parts,’ Gray said. ‘He’s giving the game away.’
‘He must trust her, Gray,’ Fayne said. ‘That’s good enough for me.’
‘Wait a minute, weren’t you the assassin who was with us only because of Maya?’
‘I am only with you because of the fatiya. But I have come to trust the Tantric’s judgment. He is a good warrior, and he cares for you and your sister. He might be reckless, but that is why I enjoy his company. He brings me to amazing fights. No, myrkho, I trust him on the battlefield, and that is more than what I say for most of my fellow assassins.’
Gray reclined into deep thought, still playing the violin. Then he paused, and said, ‘I trust him too, which is why I’ve allowed him to take Maya and me wherever he has wanted. But this is not my place; this city is dangerous and I cannot see the thrill in the danger. I’m afraid the first thing I’m going to do when Maya is back is take her right back to New Kolkata, even if it means ditching Adri. And I won’t feel bad about it.’
‘Your decisions concerning the Tantric are yours to make. If my charge is not lifted, I shall accompany you into the new city. However, you do not understand the essence of Old Kolkata because of a simple reason.’
‘Which is?’
‘You cannot defend yourself.’
‘What? I carried that shotgun for half the bloody city—’
‘You misunderstand, myrkho,’ Fayne said. ‘I am not talking about weapons. I’m talking about training. The Old City is a vicious place, as cruel and chaotic as the magic it is filled with. However, it is also generous and rewarding to those who earn it.’
‘I don’t quite see what you mean. What generosity?’
‘Generosity is finding the food which you did and which is now in your full stomach. If only you had training, you would not be afraid to go out and embrace whatever the city threw at you. If you can take it head on, the rewards are never far behind. The city is never unfair.’
Gray said nothing, turning to his thoughts once more, and playing his violin again.
‘I need to save her,’ Adri said quietly. ‘I need to, and this is the only shot I’ve got. Nothing is stopping me from trying.’
‘A Devil Mask used to save a life?’ Natasha shook her head. ‘Sounds crazy, but then you are just crazy enough for this, Sen.’
‘I will not back down from this one, Nat. I owe her.’
‘You seem fond of her.’
Adri was silent.
‘What’s your plan, then?’ Natasha asked.
‘Tonight, I will go and plant her in the Mask. Tomorrow, I will go and remove her.’
‘That sounds simple enough, except you can’t remove a living host from a Devil Mask. She will have to die, one way or the other.’
‘I have to try,’ Adri said. ‘I haven’t come this far to put a bullet through her head now. I’m looking for something, Nat, something that will help me distract the Necrotic. What if ten spirits encircle the Devil Mask, and use different voices to distract it—’
Sounds of movement. Natasha looked up at Adri. He signalled Gray to stop playing. They waited. Silence. And then they heard it once more. Shuffling footsteps in the streets, the rattling of the metal staircase.
‘Revenant,’ Fayne said, walking over to an edge of the roof. Natasha and Adri rushed to the edge and saw a spectacle. Hordes and hordes of revenant were surrounding the building. The narrow alleyways beside the building were all filled and teeming with revenant, desperately and wistfully looking up. They had entered the garage already, and were making their way up the narrow staircase, which, mercifully, could only accommodate a single file as they climbed.
‘Revenant! Suit up!’ Natasha screamed at the Commandos, rushing over to her own bag. Adri followed her, his eye on Gray as he rushed to pick up the Sadhu’s Shotgun.
‘Are there any Tantric weapons you might be having?’ Adri asked sheepishly.
‘Couple of Sorcerer gauntlets, but I doubt you’ll be able to use them,’ Natasha said, wearing her own gauntlets.
‘I’ll, err, try. I know how the things work.’
‘Don’t kill yourself. They’re in that bag over there.’
Well, well, this should be a laugh, the Wraith said. Somehow I don’t think the great Adri Sen is going to be particularly brilliant with tools of Sorcerers.
‘Shut up, shut up,’ Adri muttered, rifling through the bag. ‘That’s just a voice in your head, Adri. Just a voice.’
Block me out, yes? That’s even funnier.
Adri found the silver gauntlets and started wearing them. Everyone else had already started. Fayne and Natasha were repelling the revenant at the stairs while the Commandos and Gray were firing over the side of the building. Adri noticed briefly that the scales on his right hand had spread drastically before he clicked the gauntlets shut on both hands.
‘Okay, this is it,’ he murmured.
‘Fireballs, Sen!’ Natasha shouted briefly, flinging fistfuls of fire at the climbing revenant. The revenant kept on coming; they would be destroyed only after taking a great deal of hurt. Fayne was hacking his way down the staircase towards a sea of revenant.
Adri’s attempts at using the gauntlets were disastrous. After half-hearted attempts at generating several different kinds of energy, all Adri could summon was a lightball, a glowing spirit orb whose only purpose was to light up dark areas. He flung it at a revenant in rage, and the lightball stuck to its head, lighting up the other revenant near it. It made targeting the revenant easier for the Commandos, but Adri threw off the gauntlets, muttering curses, and grabbed a Commando firearm.
Repelling all the revenant took a lot of time, but they did it. They were all exhausted when they returned to the roof, one of the Commandos keeping a watch downstairs.
‘That was sudden,’ the other commando said, resting his rifle. ‘Bastards came out of nowhere.’
‘They’re quiet,’ Natasha said, frowning. ‘But still, I haven’t seen them creep up like this before.’
‘This idiot’s music hid their noises until they were upon us,’ Adri said, looking at Gray.
‘How was I to know?’ Gray whined.
‘The same thing happened the last time,’ Fayne said quietly. ‘How is it that there are this many revenant walking around?’
‘It’s the Devil Mask,’ Natasha said. ‘That vile thing keeps creating them from dead bodies. As if revenant forming by themselves wasn’t enough.’
‘How did they find us though?’ the Commando questioned. ‘They can smell meat, but they can’t herd together like that.’
‘I agree. It’s like they were attracted here,’ Natasha said.
Adri stood up. ‘Wait,’ he said, with the evident air of being on to something. ‘Attracted isn’t the right word. It’s summoned.’ He walked up to where Gray’s violin case lay and took the violin out.
‘What are you—’ Gray began, but Adri cut him short.
‘I wonder why I didn’t hear it before,’ Adri said. ‘Each and every time the violin was played, it was there, hidden among the notes.’
‘Summons?’ Natasha asked, surprised.
‘Not just a summons,’ Adri said. ‘More. It breaches the boundaries of the dead; this instrument can talk to the dead in their language.’
‘What?’ Gray gasped. ‘That’s just a violin! My violin!’
‘A violin infused with ancient magic, magic of the dead,’ Adri said
seriously. ‘Where did you get this?’
‘It was a gift!’
‘A strange sense of humour, giving one of the instruments of the Damned as a gift to one who doesn’t know anything about it. It would probably have gotten you killed someday.’
‘Instruments of the Damned? What are they?’ Gray asked in amazement.
‘I’m no storyteller. Ask them if you ever run across another one again,’ Adri said shortly, looking at the black violin. ‘Though who gifted you the violin of the Damned is as good as question as any.’
‘What does it do? The violin? What do you mean, it talks to the dead?’
Adri saw everyone was listening keenly. ‘When we Tantrics talk to the dead, we force them onto our Plane and talk to them in the Old Tongue mostly, which they understand. This instrument, however, breaches all boundaries of language and Planes and reaches out to them in the purest form of communication possible. When simply played, it attracts the dead—it calls them like a summoning horn. If played like a master without a single error’ —he looked at Gray—‘it can control them as well. To the dead this music is like a simple emotion, almost like a direct message to the brain. The dead will obey it if the music gives a command.’
‘Oh my God,’ Gray said.
‘You have been carrying one of the most powerful weapons ever made all this while,’ Adri told Gray. ‘Something skillfully made, something hidden. And now, I think I know a perfect use for it.’
‘The Devil Mask?’ Natasha asked.
Adri nodded. ‘This development was exactly what I needed; the Old City never lets down the faithful. I have a plan, and a simple one.’
‘You can’t kill the host already in the Mask!’ Natasha hissed.
‘I should not have let you come along,’ Adri complained.
Women are an eternal pain in the behind, the Wraith said.
They were creeping along side alleys, trying to not attract any kind of attention. The moon was high in the night sky, and everything was more visible than usual as the moonlight washed down on them. The group consisted of the four of them and Natasha. And she was having a problem with the first part of the plan—the one that involved killing the host already in the Devil Mask.
Tantrics Of Old Page 36
