by T. G. Ayer
Maya walked right into Nik’s back, having been deep in thought when they arrived at the palace.
And what a palace it was. Stunningly white, rising endlessly up into the clear blue sky, it looked a lot like one of those red palace frontages Maya had seen in Jaipur, hundreds of windows, with the walls carved into small almost filigreed designs. It sparkled and shone, breathtakingly beautiful.
In front of her, Nik rummaged in his shoulder pack, pulling out a great loop of rope, and a small triple hook that looked like three fishhooks welded together.
"The hooks are large enough to grab onto the balconies as you go. You will have to use your hands to bypass each window, but the carvings are perfectly designed for holding onto."
"What I want to know is if they're thick enough to take my weight or will I end up pulling away a bunch of carvings and falling to my death?" said Maya, completely serious.
"They should carry your weight; you're one of the smallest bodies in our group anyway. If you remember to secure the hook each time you move to the next window you'll be fine."
"Easy for you to say since you’re not the one climbing this monstrosity," mumbled Maya. But although she was slightly put out being the only one risking her life, she was aware of the blood thrumming through her veins, and her head felt light and free. She couldn’t deny she looked forward to this.
"We're all coming with you, except maybe Joss." Nik threw a quick glance over at Joss whose face appeared paler than was possible.
Maya stepped over to her, "Are you okay Joss? You don’t look well."
"Heights," Joss managed to utter in a similar fashion to an arachnophobe in response to a spider sitting on their lap.
"It’s fine, wait here for us."
"No freaking way. You are so not leaving me behind. I’m coming, heights be damned." Joss spoke with such a level of vehemence Maya knew neither she nor Joss herself would be capable of changing her mind. No point in even trying.
"Right, let’s get this show on the road," said Maya. She faced Nik and Chayya. "So why can’t you take me in there the way Chayya brought me to Patala?"
Nik was busy coiling up the rope. "Because the palace is warded against gods and demons. Neither of us can enter. Believe me, we've tried. It's why the balcony is the smartest choice. It gets us near enough." His face darkened. "But you'll need to get Varuni outside and hand her over the balustrade and through the ward. Your body will act as a conduit and allow Varuni to pass through. Joss will need to hold onto either Chayya or me to be taken back to Patala."
With a start, Maya realized she’d almost forgotten she wasn’t really here, that her real body lay asleep and prone in a random room somewhere in one of the Planes of the underworld. At the moment, Yama held her life in trust. Maya shuddered, still not at peace with the idea. She shrugged. There was really nothing she could do but get on with it.
The three of them moved to a corner of the building. Lush green grass grew at their feet, and peacocks called in the distance. The garden around her remained silent and Maya wondered at Narakasura’s complacency. Surely, he would guard his newly-won kingdom.
She asked Nik that very question in hushed tones.
Again Nik said, "He does not expect an assault like ours, hence he hasn’t prepared himself for such. But be aware, Maya. There is always the danger a guard may come upon us here in the garden or even once you enter the palace." Nik looked from Joss to Maya and back again. "Use these carvings on the corner of the building to maneuver yourself upwards until you reach the first row of balconies. Anchor the hook onto the first balcony before you begin moving along it. Remember, secure the hook a few feet ahead of you each time, and then release it when you approach it. It will be slow but it's also safe. Ready?"
Maya nodded, despite feeling as unready as she could possibly feel, but she had to get moving. She grabbed the anchor and hooked it in a space between two large knobs as high above her head as she could reach. She started to scale the wall, her leather covered toes moving sure and confident against the carved frontage of the fantastic white palace.
Nik and Joss followed and Maya let out a silent sigh of relief. It felt easy, the climb. As long as she ensured the anchor was in place she was safe from falling. The knowledge gave her confidence and she moved faster, more agile than she’d ever expected to be on the vertical face of a building.
When she at last reached the level of the goddess’s room she anchored herself on the carved balustrade of the first overhanging balcony, and waited for the other two to catch up. Joss needed Nik’s help more than expected thus slowing him down a bit.
Just when Maya began to feel impatient and considered moving on without them, they pulled up beside her. "Right, Joss. Can you check it out?" Nik asked.
Joss nodded and clambered over the balustrade. She tiptoed across the tiled floor of the ornate balcony. She carefully parted the heavy silk curtains that blocked off the room and peeked into the darkened interior while Maya and Nik hung about outside.
A few seconds later she turned back to them and grinned. "All clear."
"Right. Joss can wait here." Nik said. "We'll need eyes on this room just in case."
"I know what you’re doing Nik," Joss responded, a wry smile at her mouth. "You’re making me feel useful and you’re very sweet but I can take care of myself."
Nik shoved a pair of knives into Joss’s hands. "Hold on to these and use them if the guards find you."
"Okay," said Joss, her eyes bulging in fear-filled surprise.
Nik threw Joss an encouraging smile as Maya gave her a firm supportive nod. An unspoken You'll be fine, just hang in there, pal.
Joss hesitated then retreated further into the darkness of the room.
Maya sent up a fervent prayer.
Chapter 45
Maya hoped her friend would be safe, hoped against hope Nik was right and the room wouldn't be entered by one of Narakasura's guards. Already Maya's stomach churned with a fear that had nothing to do with killing the Demon King.
She shrugged silently. Scanned the face of the palace wall. Pity getting into these rooms had to be so pedestrian; no magical appearances like the demons or Chayya. She stiffened her back and her resolve, trying not to concentrate on the unfairness of it all.
Bet Priya is laughing at me now. Even in her absence, the Rakshasa had a way of irritating her.
She glanced over at her destination. Two balconies to go. Just two more to the balcony leading to the room where Narakasura held the goddess Varuni captive.
Until now, they'd been heading upward, which had been easy enough. Fasten the anchor, toe-hold, finger-hold, pull up. Repeat. Moving sideways was a whole other ballgame.
Maya moved her foot slowly along the little carved lip of marble, inching along, holding her breath. She reached with her left hand for the anchor, then popped the rope attached to it between her teeth. There wasn't much choice in how to hold the contraption while all her fingers and all her toes struggled to grip onto the smooth surface of the wall.
She tried not to think about the thousands of demon hands that had used this particular anchor. She tamped down the urge to retch, trying to ignore the thick, tightly woven grimy rope, so very close to her tongue. Harden up, Maya. You’ve killed demons, sucking on a filthy rope is nothing.
Maya reached the first balcony, every muscle quivering with tension. Don't look down, don't look down, don't look down. Maya spoke the words, over and over, having already looked down once and knowing a second attempt would send her to her death. Automatically, she grabbed the anchor with her right hand and reached out to secure it on the next balustrade. Safe. The next balcony would be the last. But still, a shudder ran through her.
Despite her best efforts she felt her body sway away from the building, felt her stomach drop. Maya tried desperately to hold on tighter, fingers scrabbling, digging for purchase. She tried to plaster herself to the wall. But ever so slowly, the distance between her body and the palace began to increase as she tippe
d backward.
Fingers slippery with sweat grabbed at slippery marble, gripped hard. Maya felt three nails rip apart, felt the warm rush of blood and the slick stone beneath her fingers.
Then clean fresh air.
In the distance, Maya heard a voice calling her name. "Maya hold on." But it was no use. Too late. As she fell backward Maya studied her bloody fingerprints on the stark white purity of the palace façade. The redness was so right, so bright and so fitting as if it belonged there, as if meant to be there. Again, she heard Nik call her name and she turned to look at him. Nik stretched out his hand, fingers extended as long as he could, but it was all too late.
Maya fell, her body plummeting two stories before she was jerked back upward so hard she could have sworn she'd heard her back break in two. The anchor rope. Damn. The last she recalled was fixing the anchor. Thank the dark goddess it held. But she had little time to thank her stars or any gods before her body was again slammed into the side of the building from the force of the fall.
For long moments, she hung there, her aching muscles caring little for survival.
"Maya, wake up," Nik called, his voice low, harsh.
Maya blinked, the sun stabbing her eyes, bringing more liquid to already overflowing tears of pain.
"Maya, are you okay?" Nik spoke beside her, his tone urgent and rough with fear.
Her body on fire with agony, Maya tried to assess her limbs in order to give Nik an honest answer. Hands and legs worked fine. Hearing, sight, and voice, fine. Her back could be broken judging from the fiery pain in the center of her spinal column, but she still felt her legs so she wasn’t going to panic.
Nik finally grabbed her hand. The warmth of his fingers sent a surge of comfort through her arm and straight into her heart. Dangling on the side of a palace in a dimension of higher consciousness, almost killing herself to rescue the source of the Amrita to save the gods, Maya took one small step to finally accepting perhaps this was all really happening. It was time for her to accept she’d been wrong all along. Kali and Yama were real and her parents were right, had always been right.
Nik's fingers tugged at hers. She blinked and tugged back, allowing him to pull her closer. He'd lowered himself down so he was at the same height as Maya. Only when he had his arm tightly encircling her waist was she able to swing herself upright. And take her first non-panicked breath.
"Ok, Maya. I think you need to stop playing around and scaring me half to death. Are you okay? Everything still in one piece?" Nik said with a touch of laughter in his voice and a touch of a smile on his lips.
"Yes, thank you, my lord." She grinned at him.
"Now, let’s get moving, I think there is still a goddess to save?" Maya tried to tell herself Nik's expression of approval and a hint of pride in his eyes meant nothing. But for the first time she didn’t bristle with indignation because he dared to be proud of her. She gave in a little and basked in the satisfaction instead.
Only a little and only for now, a small voice whispered the reality in her ear.
Maya grabbed for a finger hold and let out a hiss of pain. She’d forgotten about her fingernails.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing, I just broke a nail."
Nik chuckled. "I never thought I’d see the day when Maya Rao fussed over a manicure."
"Idiot," said Maya, grinning as she lifted her damaged hand and showed him her three ripped and bloody fingertips. "I guess it’s a little more than just a broken nail."
"Give me your hand," Nik instructed. Let him look. Perhaps he has a first aid kit stashed in his pack.
Suddenly her palm warmed, in much the same way as it did when Maya channeled her fire. Her three fingers began to throb with an inexplicable heat. It should have felt agonizing but was only painful instead. When he released her hand, Maya gasped.
"What did you do?" She stared from her fingers to Nik's face. A moment ago, her fingernails had barely been holding on to the flesh of her nail beds. Maya had known all three nails were lost and accepted she’d have to wait for them to grow back again, but now they were good as new. Still caked with dried blood, still sore and throbbing, but on their way to mending.
"It’s my little magic trick." Maya clicked her tongue and Nik responded. "Okay, I used my own fire. Possessing the firepower means we also have the power of healing. You, as the hand of Kali will have a stronger healing power, but since you haven’t honed it as yet, I thought I'd use my power and fix it for you. At least so you can climb back up to the balcony."
"Wow, okay." Maya flexed her fingers and dusted off the gritty flecks of dark red crusting her cuticles.
"As you climb you can send intermittent bursts of power to the nails, keep them warm and they won’t hurt as much. Now I think we need to be going. We’ve been hanging around here far too long."
Maya nodded and began to haul herself up. The rest had done her body good, her nails felt better although they still hurt, and all she wanted was to get this job done and head home. She sent pulses of fire heat to her fingers as she climbed, gripping onto the rope above, pulling herself up, moving with greater confidence the closer she got to the balcony.
Chapter 46
At last, Maya and Nik reached the balcony where she'd slipped. Her blood still gleamed red and accusing as she grabbed the balustrade and hauled herself up. She spared seconds wondering if it would rain at any point and wash away the gore now crusted against the white marble.
One foot at a time they moved toward the next balcony; their goal, Varuni's prison. Maya paused beside the balcony, securing her anchor over the balustrade first, before turning to Nik.
"What now?"
"Now you go in and convince her you're here to save her."
"What do you mean convince her?"
"Varuni is known for her spirit. She isn’t going to come quietly."
"But isn’t she being held prisoner here?"
"Yes, she is Narakasura’s prisoner but think about it. Someone jumps through her window and tries to take her away? She’s going to think she’s in danger and she may not want to leave with you."
"And what about you? Aren’t you coming in with me?"
"No. Remember, if I try to enter, I will trigger the ward and he'll know we're here. We want to get in and out without detection." Nik gave a wry smile.
"You better be right the wards are not set to detect humans," Maya warned Nik. The last thing she needed was more hurdles to saving Varuni.
"We have solid and trustworthy informers."
"Okay, I’d better get on with it," said Maya as she slung one leg over the balustrade. She slipped off the ledge, landing lightly on both feet. With a nod to Nik, she turned to face a pair of burgundy drapes edged in gold silk trimmings. The curtains rustled and moved in the slight breeze and Maya took a deep breath and spent only a second wondering what the room held in store for her.
Maya slipped inside, eyes adjusting for the change in light from super-bright sunshine to medium indoor lighting. The room was well appointed. A beautiful white four-poster bed sat along one wall, both headboard and footboard intricately carved with scenes of dancing girls, shepherds, and cows. A low table stood to Maya’s left, also made from either pale marble or painted wood. Maya felt confused for a moment, wondering why interior decor was even given consideration in this plane of consciousness. Clearly, this was more a world than just a transcendental meditation hotspot. Maya blinked and registered the young woman seated on the marble floor beside the table.
The goddess Varuni looked no older than Maya herself.
For a long moment Maya stood, unsure of how to get the attention of the goddess. Varuni must have heard some sound. She looked up, straight into Maya's eyes but before Maya could utter a word Varuni dived for her bed, shoved her hand under the mattress and brought forth two short slightly curved daggers.
Seriously? Please someone tell me I don’t have to fight a goddess!
"Please. I'm only here to help you," said Maya as she stared into
the ferocious, almond shaped eyes of the furious goddess. Her high cheekbones bloomed with anger, pitch-black hair flung across her shoulder looked angry in its disarray. And for the first time Maya saw a glow behind Varuni. Maya froze. She could have sworn she'd seen multiple arms, exactly like in the pictures she'd seen of gods and goddesses, or the statues in the temples and at home. A bright array of two sets of arms, curving around Varuni, but only if Maya didn't look directly at her. As soon as she focused on them, they disappeared.
"You have just climbed through the window of my room. What gives you the idea I will believe anything you have to say?" Her icy tone almost hid the soft music of her voice.
"Nothing, I guess I hoped you would believe it because it's true." Maya shrugged.
Varuni stared at Maya, her gaze flicking lightly at the door.
"Please," said Maya, "At least hear me out."
Varuni moved to her right, staying out of reach of Maya, all the while pointing the two deadly daggers in Maya's direction.
The goddess lunged forward with one dagger, straight at Maya's chest. Maya skipped back out of range of the sweeping blade. Varuni said, "Talk. If you have anything to say."
A burst of anger filtered through Maya. More at Nik and Yama than at the goddess who was now actively trying to kill her. "I've been sent to rescue you."
"I am sorry but I find that quite difficult to believe. I have been trapped here for a century and now someone has decided to send a rescue and all I get is a little human girl?"
Maya gritted her teeth and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry you had to wait that long, but I was asked to save you a few days ago. I'm just doing what I was requested."
"And who did the asking?" The goddess bounced low on her knees, ready to pounce.
"The God Yama and the Goddess Chayya. Oh and Nik…Nikhil, the son of Yama."
Varuni raised her eyebrows as if the list of names surprised her, but all she said was, "And who exactly are you?" A steely challenge filled the question.
