by T. G. Ayer
He bent his head in a small greeting, "Hello Maya. I believe you have succeeded in your mission?"
Maya placed her hands together and bowed before the god. "Yes, my Lord. I have Gandiv."
"Then come with me, Maya Rao." He held out his hand and Maya glanced at Nik. Nik who was frowning as he stared at Lord Shiva, the strangest look on his face. His eyes widened and at the same time Maya caught a whiff of dead meat and spices. The smell of the Rakshasa. Something was terribly wrong.
When she looked at Nagini she knew. The apology was clear in her face and Maya moved to step backward, aways from the god in front of her.
And then Lord Shiva transformed into Raj Thakkur, the demon art collector.
But it was too late. He grabbed Maya's hand, and transported her right out of Nagini's lair.
They arrived on solid ground, the room almost a duplicate to Lord Shiva's hall in Mt Kailas. A glance at the god confirmed what she'd thought she'd just imagined. The man who stood before her and the demon Ravana were one and the same. Mr. Thakkur, venerated scholar, esteemed collector of ancient Indian artefact's was none other than the earthly persona of the hated and fear King of all Rakshasa, Lord Ravana.
Maya took a step back, instinctively wanting to turn and run, but Ravana held out his forefinger and shook it at her. "Uh unh. Don't be foolish and make a run for it. This is Lanka. You have nowhere to go."
Maya glared at him and tried to swallow the lump of fear in her throat.
She had no friends, not backup. All she had was Gandiv and the bow was little protection against the demon standing before her.
"Hand the bow over." Ravana opened his palm and beckoned her with two fingers.
"And what if I don't?" she asked, playing for time even though she wasn't sure she should even bother.
"Then all that will happen is you will get very hurt. Or maybe I will hurt someone else. Like little Malini, for instance."
"No," yelled Maya. She glared at the demon. "You can't hurt her. Nagini made a deal with you didn't she? Gandiv in exchange for her daughter?"
"You are most astute, my dear. Yes, we made a deal but the goddess of serpents never clarified that her daughter be returned to her alive. You see, my child, it's all in the fine print." He said, laughing maniacally. His laughter echoed around the room so loudly that Maya almost didn't hear the two demon guards come in, dragging a girl between them.
"Maya, meet Malini, daughter of the goddess Nagini."
The girl raised her head. She seemed weak yet unhurt but she stared at Maya sullenly, as if she didn't even consider the possibility of being saved.
"Why did you take her? Or do you just have a habit of abducting innocent women?"
He sneered. "She had something I wanted. And, no. You can stop thinking dirty thoughts, not that they have never occurred to me." He walked over to the the defeated girl.
They had dressed her in a pale blue short sleeved beaded blouse and floor length skirt, demure and simple, but still beautiful. He ran a finger down the bare skin of her arm and she shuddered, drawing away in fear. "You see, the daughter of the queen of serpents has an interesting power. She produces a venom like nothing ever created on earth. In its various potencies it can be used as a painkiller, a hallucinogen, a sleeping drug and a deathly poison. And the beauty of it is it's truly undetectable. Even those forensic doctors won't be able to find a trace of it in a victim's blood. So yes, this young one has been very useful."
"So you won't give her back?" Maya stomach clenched at the thought of Nagini's wrath and her grief if she didn't get her daughter back after such a huge betrayal.
"Oh, I have no further need of her. You see, humans have their uses too. Especially the ones who can replicate the venom. But it's up to you whether she returns home alive or dead."
The girl stared wide-eyed at Maya, having finally realized what was going on around her. "What are you doing?" she glared at Ravana, anger stronger in her gaze than fear and Maya knew this girl was stronger than she looked.
"Just giving the girl a choice. It's always interesting what people do when faced with choices they dislike."
Malini shook her head, pulling away from the guards. "Don't. Don't let him win. Whatever he wants it's not worth what he's asking for."
Maya snorted. "It's your life in exchange for a bow. I'm sure Shiva will understand."
Malini gasped, shock making her face grow so pale Maya could almost see the outline of scales beneath her skin. "Shiva's bow? That's Gandiv you have there?" When Maya nodded, Malini shook her head so hard the strands of her hair flew in her face. "Don't give it to him."
"Oh, how heroic of you, little serpent. I didn't think you had it in you." Ravana moved closer. He ran a finger along the girls cheek moving it slowly to her chin. Then he slipped it under her chin and lifted her face until she had no choice but to look him in the eye. "Don't worry. She will give me the bow. You see, she is human. And she knows how important life is."
"He's right," said Maya bringing the bow round and slipping it off her shoulder. She held it out to Ravana and he smiled, teeth gleaming in the wide, satisfied grin he gave her. "He can have the bow. But only when he lets you go." Maya stared Ravana down stiffening her spine. "Call her mother. When Nagini takes her away then you can have the bow."
"Very well. You drive a hard bargain but I am willing to keep my end." He snapped his fingers and a moment later Nagini appeared, her expression slightly confused. "My lady, you may have your daughter. Please take her and leave."
Malini ran to her mother and melted into her arms. The serpent goddess rubbed her daughter's back but the expression on her face was hard and angry. Maya suspected she wasn't done with the demon lord but she had to get the goddess out of there now. "Take her somewhere safe. I'm fine."
Nagini hesitated her gaze flicking from Maya to the bow. "But Gandiv. Are you going to give it to him?"
"I don't have a choice, really. What's done is done. At least Gandiv is one step closer to its master."
Maya gave Nagini a smile and it seemed the goddess understood because she took one last furious look at Ravana and said, "Someday I will make you pay for what you did to me and my family." Then she disappeared with her daughter held close to her bosom.
"Don't they always say the nicest things?" Ravana asked, smiling. He behaved as if he hadn't stolen her daughter from her, hadn't drained the girl for a deadly poison, hadn't kept a family apart and caused endless grief for hundreds of years. He was a psychopath. Now, he turned that charming smile on Maya and said, "Ttime to hand it over my dear. Or are you going to break your promise."
She shook her head. "Of course not. Take it," she said holding it out.
Ravana laughed, taking a step further down the hall. "You know, it's quite amazing that you are able to carry a bow that few men on earth have ever been able to hold. A long time ago, another women stood here in this very hall. She was also able to carry Gandiv."
Maya frowned. "You're talking about Sita?"
"Ah, she knows her history," Ravana laughed and clapped his hands together.
"She was another woman you stole away from her family. You seem to have a certain pattern, don't you?" asked Maya, the look she gave him full of distaste. She was so tempted to look at her watch. How much longer will they be, she wondered.
"Very well, let us not waste any more time. Bring the bow and place it here. It's a special place that's been waiting for so long for Gandiv." Ravana waved a hand at a pedestal a few feet further into the hall.
Maya walked to it and placed the bow on the stone table. As soon as she set it down and took a step back the guards descended on her. Maya drew her fire sending two blasts are each of the demons, fire so powerful that it incinerated each Rakshasa on contact.
"Oh, my. You are much more talented than I ever expected. I do think you will come in handy."
Before he could say another word, an enormous ball of light appeared beside the bow. The light lengthened and grew slowly into the shape of Lo
rd Shiva. Within the protective force of the swirling white light, Shiva reached out and grabbed hold of the bow. He turned to Maya and gave her a small smile. Then with a tiny nod he disappeared. When the white ball spun around and around and eventually fell in on itself, Maya felt as if all her hopes had just left with the God of Gods.
He'd come for the bow but he hadn't saved Maya.
Ravana growled, shrieking so loudly that the entire room vibrated, carvings and painting fell to the floor around them. "Now, what did he go and do that for?" the demon lord asked as if he had no idea why Shiva would want his own bow back.
"Maybe because it belongs to him?" Maya offered. The words flowed so easily past a throat filled with tears of abandonment.
He smiled as he clicked his fingers and time seemed to slow down. The iciness of his eyes seemed to go on forever although his toothy smile soon disappeared to be replaced with a thin unfeeling line as he stared at her. Maya felt her stomach twist, her breath whoosh from her lungs. She felt her body disintegrate, watched the richly decorated hall disappear.
Chapter 45
Within the same breath, she reappeared. Somewhere pitch dark, somewhere not a flicker of light penetrated.
Beneath her she felt stone and as she moved metal jangled beside her and behind her.
She clicked her tongue, fed up with the lack of light, called her fire into a ball of light, then flicked it off to hover in front of her.
The light brought her situation to her shocked gaze. She sat in a darkened stone cell, her hands shackled, the rusty chain attached to a wall behind her. She sank slowly to the floor, her heart heavy in her chest, thoughts of abandonment overcrowding her spinning mind.
She let out a soft sob as she scanned the cell desperate to see a face or hear a voice, to know she wasn't alone here in this barely lit dingy cell.
"Well, you're certainly the last person I would have expected to see here," said a voice from the shadowed corner at her right.
Maya's head jerked up hard and she frowned, studying the shape of a man she could see shackled to the far wall, forcing him to remain standing for his entire incarceration. Her heart clenched. She knew that voice. "Kas?" she asked the shadows, suddenly wanting to laugh at the absurdity of it all.
"Maya?" he mimicked her, although not unkindly. "Yes, it's me." He sighed.
She shifted on the floor and something metal hit the stone beneath her. Chayya's brass container.
Maya's way out of this hell hole.
She'd have to use it before they decide to search her, though.
Kas's voice broke through her rush of excitement. "What the hell are you doing here?" she asked as her eyes adjusted to the dull light and she could at last see the face of her once-enemy, the demon Narakasura.
"Probably the same thing you're doing here," Kas suggested with a superior tilt of the head.
"Chained to a wall and still arrogant," Maya mumbled to herself. She watched him, her gaze narrowing. "Ravana threw me in here after I gave him Gandiv. Not that it mattered, because Lord Shiva arrived and took the bow away anyway. What are you here for?"
"Ah, I knew it wouldn't be long before he lost the bow. He'll be pretty pissed," said Kas, his shadowed gaze focused on Maya's face. Maya moved her hand and her ball of light floated closer to him. His jaw clenched as he filched from the brightness; a jaw encased in a heavy rough of a tangle beard. "And I'm here because I failed to fulfill the master's command to cut off your pretty little head. So you see, you are to blame."
Maya snorted. "I love it. Won't take the blame for anything will you?"
"I tell it like it is, Maya Rao. You thwarted my plan but I failed to kill you. Those were his instructions. Make sure the Hand of Kali is dead. And I failed. Hence my current address." His teeth shone in the darkness and Maya detected a movement of his shoulder that could have been a shrug. She almost felt sorry for him. Almost.
"Have you been here ever since then?" she asked, thinking about their last encounter a few weeks ago.
"Came straight here. And haven't left," Kas said softly.
Maya's eyes had adjusted well enough by now to see he still wore the blue handwoven overcoat she'd seen him in when they'd last fought, when he'd stabbed her in the back. The sleeve of his left hand was cut open, old brown blood darkened its edges. His bare bicep revealed a thin line, the memory of her poison-tipped dagger scarring his skin.
Buttons were missing in his overcoat and it hung open, revealing the left leg of his trousers, ripped and bloody where she'd struck him in the thigh.
"So, this is what you got for failing to kill me?" He nodded. "Guess loyalty works only one way with him doesn't it?"
"So it seems," Kas said sagging his head sadly, although Maya knew him well enough to see through his feigned despair.
"Now what?" she asked glaring around the cell.
"Now, nothing. They bring food, release us to use the toilet. And we're back here, day after day."
"You haven't tried to escape?"
Kas laughed, the sound jetting around the room, bounding flatly off the stone walls. "There is no escape."
"You mean you haven't tried," said Maya firmly scanning the room again for the slightest show of weakness in the walls, in the metal bars of the cell door.
Metal. That was it. She could melt the metal with her fire and free herself. But she needed a plan.
Footsteps sounded from the passage outside and with a flick of her hand Maya doused her fireball. The footsteps stopped in front of their cell, a shape held a torch while another fiddled at the lock. Two Rakshasas stopped in front of their cell, their faces oddly lit by the lone torch. One held a tray piled with plates and sealed silver containers, along with a jug of water and two silver cups. The first demon opened the door and allowed the tray-bearer to move inside and set his burden down in the middle of the cell.
Without thinking, Maya summoned her power and sent two fireballs at the pair in quick succession. The first hit the demon at the door full in the face. She'd been careful to imbue as much power as she could into the fire and it achieved the result she'd wanted. The fire slammed into the demon, sank deep into his bones and flesh and burned him up from the inside.
All while the second demon looked on in horror.
He was so transfixed by the death of his partner that he didn't see his very own fireball hit him square in the ribs. Within seconds he too evaporated in a flurry of orange embers and flakes of black dust.
"That sorts them out," she said dusting her hands together. Then she drew her fire and threw out a fireball to light the room again.
"There's more where they came from," said Kas dryly although he didn't fail to look impressed. The metal door hung open and Maya frowned. "We should get that door closed before someone comes by."
"I'm thinking." she snapped. It took only a moment for her to make the decision. She concentrated her fire in the palm of her right hand, sending it into the metal shackles. The iron began to glow and then she stopped. "No. I can't do this. If it melts off one of the demons will see it and just lop a different shackle on." She spoke almost to herself. Kas had nothing to contribute.
Staring at the cell door she had the tendrils of an idea.
She called her fire again, aiming her palm at the bottom of the iron cell door. She sent a stream of the flame into a thin line, focusing the energy of the fire at the bottom corner. With a powerful thrust she pushed the door shut. It clicked as it hit the lock but without the key it didn't shut completely. Maya made a face at the bottom corner of the door.
"Don't worry. They won't notice." His attempt at comforting her failed miserably.
She snorted. "They can't be that dumb. Eventually someone will see that."
"Let's hope by the time they see it they will be too late," said Kas with a smile that Maya considered a little too friendly for her liking. She shot him a narrow glare then focused on the food. Her stomach turned at the thought of eating anything that Ravana provided.
"How long befor
e someone comes for the tray?"
"A couple of hours. We don't rank highly on the service list."
"I'm sure we don't," said Maya. She shifted again and reached a hand into her pants pocket for Chayya's brass container. She supposed she should be grateful they hadn't shackled her to the wall the way they did Kas.
She glanced at him frowning. "They left food. How are you supposed to eat?"
"Well, if you hadn't made them go poof they would have exchanged my shackles for ones like yours. And don't worry. It won't take too long before they put you in shackles like mine. It usually happens after the first meal."
"Then I supposed I have no time to waste," she said firmly as she unscrewed the lid of the container and watched in awe as a thread of black shadow swirled up into the air. It seemed to grow larger and larger until Maya blinked at the sight.
A Shadow Girl stood in front of her, everything from her face and hair to her clothing and skin were a shad of grey, from gun-metal to slate to dull smoke. She shifted as she floated, waiting for Maya's command.
"Please tell the Goddess Chayya I need her help. I'm in a jail cell in Lanka. And there is also one other person with me who needs to be freed."
The Shadow girl bowed and broke apart into a million tiny little flecks of darkness. The scraps of shadow danced this way and that and then simply blinked out of sight.
"Pretty. But how helpful a Shadow will be I really can't say," Kas said not in the least hiding the sarcasm in his voice.
"You just be quite and wait," Maya snapped and pulled her knees up. She rested her chin on them and waited, listening hard for the sound of footsteps that would end this escape attempt.
It seemed like forever had passed when the air shimmered and shadows, both dark and light, coalesced, coming together to take the form of the goddess Chayya.
"I apologize for taking so long," said Chayya her face serene and seemingly unaffected by the delay. "I had hoped the cell would not be warded, but unfortunately that would have proved too easy."
