The Weapon of the Devas

by Nanda Gopal Guruswamy

  I had decided that that was the right thing to do. I would trade the piece for information. If I can take them on, I could catch them. If not, I can try to get into their gang and find a way to stop them.

  “Better get started then. I will put the word out to my underground contacts that I have the piece of armour. Let’s see if they fall for the bait.”

  Chapter 8: Devakratha

  Raja and I went for a quick bite to eat. I was able to snatch some sleep when I heard the mobile ringing. The two hours barely refreshed me and I woke up feeling even more tired than before. I answered the call “Hello.”

  “Is this Shiva?” A hoarse voice asked.

  “Yes, it is. Who is this?”

  “Doesn’t matter. I hear you have a certain object for sale, a gold ornament of sorts.”

  I had spread the information that I had an ancient antique for sale to my underworld contacts. Just another regular antique, I hadn’t said anything about its magical nature. So I had to act like a salesman.

  “Yup. Came across it through one of my clients. I can gurantee it is thousands of years old. Almost unique. A genuine golden ornament from ancient Indian culture. ” My sales pitch to the caller had a certain eager pleasing quality to it. Like I was trying to oversell it.

  “What does it look like?” The voice asked.

  “Let me send you a picture.” And I sent him a picture through my phone messenger. After a little while the voice said, “Ok. How much do you want for it?” Very direct. Guess the picture must have convinced him.

  I just plucked a figure out of air and said, “15 Lakhs.” I picked a very high sum because I wanted to scare away the genuine dealers and reel in only the perpetrators. Any honest collector wouldn’t agree to such an outrageous amount. But a desperate criminal, who isn’t afraid to kill might be.

  “What? That’s crazy. This item is not worth so much.”

  “Don’t go by its size, sir. This object is really old and has a surreal glow. I am tempted to keep it for myself.” With the date of the yagna approaching, these people might not be willing to take any risks. “Ok fine. Let me tell you where to meet.”

  And he suggested we meet in a faraway, isolated cricket ground at 10.30. When he said this, my suspicions were confirmed that these were the people I was looking for. Any other collector or dealer would have suggested a crowded place in daylight.

  “What? Why this secrecy? Let’s meet at a public space.” I said. But even I wanted us to meet in an isolated place to avoid any bystanders getting hurt. I just knew they would refuse.

  “Well, I am paying such a ridiculous amount, aren’t I? So I get to choose the place. Take it or leave it.” His voice sounded final.

  “Ok,” I said.

  “Be there at 10.30 p.m. and give this same number a call,” he ordered.

  I called Raja right away and asked him to trace the number. But he said he couldn’t get a fix on it, it must be turned off. It was time to get ready. I headed to my work room and prepared for the night. Going by what I had seen, these guys were strong, ruthless and cunning. I would need to stay a step ahead of them.

  Over the years, I had saved many spells for such situations. I cleared my jacket, reinforced the protection spells on the jacket and refreshed my memory with a few spells that might come in handy. It was also time to take the staff. The black with red stripes looked pretty awesome and I was proud of it. It was the one thing that I had with me. I had won it by hustling another wizard out at cards. Good times. I normally don’t carry it around cause I’d look like an idiot carrying a huge staff. I also used satellite images to check the meeting place and look for ways in and out to find a way to get out quickly. One must take all precautions when going for a furtive or suspicious meeting.

  I arrived at the place two and half hours early. In a situation such as this, when the other side might be planning an ambush, one must arrive at the place early, but not go to the place directly whiling away time by hanging out by the nearest buildings and finding other entrances and exits.

  The place was K R Puram, where there is a beautiful hanging bridge. Just to the side of the bridge, there is a small service road that leads to a dead end. To the side of it there is a cricket ground. There are many large empty spaces in India where a lot of the locals play cricket. This one was a nice example. It was large, had a few trees and lots of places to hide. And it was completely dark, not even street lights. The nearest building was an official sports centre, one with proper facilities. I just hung around this building to see people go in and out, chatting up the locals. I found that there is another way out, the service road led to a small off the road dirt track leading to a small railway underpass nearby where there was space enough for a single bike to travel through. Even at 8 p.m., there was much traffic through that underpass, as it formed a time-saving shortcut between two areas. After about an hour though, traffic became sparse, pot-bellied cops were taking a walk and clearing away the people around. I was beginning to feel a bit impatient and nervous. I started to map out different scenarios in my mind and how I could tackle them. I noted a few things while waiting—there were six unsavoury-looking lads who had gone in to the ground, chatting and talking loudly. They hadn’t come out. So I estimated at least six people hiding in the park. The plan was simple—to exchange the armour piece and try to find more about their plans. Follow them from there and see their hideout. Then I could disrupt their plans.

  However, the most likely possibility was they probably don’t have the money and would try to overwhelm me by force and take the armour. It was around 10 p.m. and the road became completely empty. There were no people at all. The monsoon season was still around so there were clouds overhead and thus no moonlight. The sound of crickets and that of distant traffic was all that I could hear. The light from the hanging bridge was dim, only outlines of trees could be seen.

  My nervous brain slowly started to look at every moving shadow with suspicion and my heart gave a small jump at every sound. The air had a nip in it, so I slowly moved to a corner where I was out of the wind while still getting a good view of the ground. I was gripping the staff tightly. A thought occurred to me, should I take the staff? At 10.30 p.m., I took out the phone and sent a text to let them know that I was there.

  A few minutes later a black car moved into the service road slowly and pulled up near the ground. A tree blocked my view so I couldn’t see how many people got out. It was time. I let out a deep breath slowly and put my game face on. Stepping out of the darkness and into the dim light took a lot of effort. But I did it. I gripped the staff tightly and walked towards the ground. There were four people standing in the middle of the ground. One of them was was huge, around six and half feet. In India, the average height of a person is around five eight so this guy was head and shoulders above the others.

  I dropped the staff off near the car and left a little something that would be useful later. I made sure that there is a lot of distance between them and me and called out, “Hey”.

  They turned around and one of them said, “Come over here”.

  So I found myself among them. A couple of them were slowly trying to get behind me. So there was a guy facing me, the big guy was behind him. One guy was towards the side and the last one was behind me. They were all a couple of arms length away.

  “Show us the item,” said the guy facing me.

  “Show me the money,,” I replied

  “I don’t think so. Show us the item first.” I showed them the armour piece and put it back in my jacket and zipped it up. There was an enchantment on my jacket. No one would be able to unzip it but me.

  “Where’s the money?”

  The thug facing me pulled a small revolver pointing it at my chest.

  “How stupid are you? You just walked into a trap. There’s no money. Take out the piece and give it to me.”

  Though the guy tried hard to act like a leader, I got the feeling that the big guy was the one calling the shots. They meant busines
s. But I felt like I could give them the piece and ask for a spot on their team. So I said, “Look, how about a deal? I will give you the piece and I can join you guys in whatever you are planning. All I ask for is a small share of the profits. I know you’re new here. I can hook you up with anything you would want. I can be the front for your operations. I have a lot of contacts and can be very useful. ”

  “How do you know we are planning something?” The thug said

  “Don’t be stupid. I know what this piece really is. ”

  He looked behind him at the big guy for a sign. The big guy in a hoarse voice said

  “No deal. Kill him. Take the piece.” So much for my great planning. This was going to get messy soon. If I can’t join them, then I can beat them up and ask questions. So I quickly decided to interrogate these guys and make them reveal the location of their leader. Then I can take him down directly. The thug turned back to me with a hungry expression.

  So I looked real scared and said dryly, “Oh no, I didn’t expect this at all. Whatever am I going to do”.

  The thug with the gun shook the revolver and said forcefully, “I’m not joking. I will shoot”.

  I didn’t let him complete the sentence. I stepped out of the line of sight of the revolver and grabbed its barrel. Now it was simply a matter of leverage. I twisted my hand in a circular motion and yanked the gun out of his grip and pointed it back at him. The guy behind me was the closest. He tried to put his arm around me to get a chokehold. Good move but predictable. I grabbed him arm and stretched it over my right shoulder. Again simple leverage. I used his outstretched arm over my shoulder as a control and pulled it forward pulling the guy behind me forward. Then I crouched and used my back as a lever and threw him. He came right over my shoulder and hit the ground pretty hard.

  The revolver was on the ground and the guy who had been holding it went for it when at the same time the guy on the side went for my throat. He was quicker. I was still recovering from the throw. He had his hands on my throat and was choking me. Things were happening too fast for me to use my powers. But the gun was the most immediate threat, even though the jacket would protect me. But at such close range, it would hurt like hell. Besides my head and legs weren’t protected. So I kicked the gun out of reach. And kicked the guy going for it right in the teeth. I wear steel-toed heavy boots, so the kick put him out of the game.

  But I was still being choked out. When you’re being choked, the main thing is to not panic. Understand that the strength in your shoulders and back is far greater than the strength in the arms of your attackers. So I fell back ensuring that his arms were fully stretched, so he could only use the power in his forearms and wrist. I brought my hands close to my neck and pulled his arms apart. Since I was taller than him, it was not that difficult. After prying his arms apart, I kicked him right in the groin. I didn’t stop there. I struck him at the temple using the point of my elbow. This blow almost always knocked out an opponent or left a nasty cut. I nailed it and he went down.

  I knew there were three more people hiding, but I was free to use my magic now. I called for a huge ball of fire and sent it right at one of the trees where I saw a shadow moving. The fireball exploded and threw a guy hiding in there. One more guy was hiding on top of the tree. He jumped down and looked horrified. He went to help his friend who had been hit by the explosion. The next one was sneaky. He was already behind me. But I sent a streak of force that flung him a few yards. The thugs had no idea what has happening. They hadn’t expected any resistance, and they must have been those cheaper kinds of rent thugs who scatter when threatened even a little bit. And that is exactly what happened. They were running pretty quick for the light.

  That left only the big guy, I am not really used to fighting guys bigger than me. Normally in a fight, I would be the bigger guy. So far, the big guy hadn’t even moved or made a sound. He had a small smirk on his face. That smug look on his face suggested he knew something that I didn’t. I sent a huge wave of force right at him. It hit him square on his chest. And nothing happened. He shook it off like a dog shaking water off itself. Now he came on with his fists raised like a boxer and closed the gap between us quickly. I was still surprised why nothing had happened. That amount of force should have thrown him across the ground. He sent a couple of quick jabs, he was quick despite his size. I dodged one and blocked the other, but that left my side open. He snapped a quick kick right into my ribcage. I totally underestimated the guy. He was almost as quick as me and more precise. The kick was exactly where my liver was and if he had hit any other guy, the kick would have caused severe damage. Inspite my protective jacket, the kick had enough force to knock my breath out. I went down on one knee.

  I always have been a sneaky little bugger. As I went down, I picked up a little mud and waited till he was close enough and threw it in his face. That had an effect. I quickly gave him a kick in the knee that sent him staggering back.

  Now was the time. He was somehow immune to force. But no one was immune to fire. I formed a fireball in my hands. Just as I was about to release it, a force hit me hard. It felt like being hit with a huge mattress, but there was enough force to send me flying a few yards. It didn’t end there, I felt a force sink into me, it was like a hook. And that hook dragged me through the length of the ground before flinging me. I hit the ground pretty hard and was thankful for my jacket.

  Completely dazed I opened my eyes just in time to see a huge stone falling right on my head. I quickly rolled and the stone dropped with a plunk sound exactly where my head was a second ago. I sat up and looked around. There was another man standing by the car. Now he walked towards the big guy and I saw that he had my staff in his hands.

  I slowly stood up and saw them talking. Then the big guy went back to the car. My tired brain had just finished deducing that this guy must be the one who attacked Prajwal. He had the power. I could sense it now, he had it in spades. I had no idea how he had flung me across. I had never experienced power being used like that. He stood still looking at me. My back still hurt a little from the fall.

  We were now both of us standing and looking at each other. I shouted, “I am Shiva, the guardian to this city. Who dares to use magic against me?” There was no answer but silence. Then a huge branch from the tree I had set fire to earlier fell between us. There was enough light to make out the details. He was, dare I say it, cool. Just plain awesome. He was dressed like he was going to party at a nightclub after this. He was wearing cream-coloured sports blazer over a t-shirt. There were sunglasses hanging off his t-shirt. His features were fine. He had a triangular-shaped face with short white hair sticking up. There was an earring glinting in his left ear. He looked more like a good looking movie star in his forties than a wizard. He smiled, and the effect was simply wicked. It was like looking at the handsome high school bully who got everything. It left me feeling like the awkward nerd. Man, some people had all the luck, leaving the rest of us to struggle with what little we have.

  “I am Devakratha, Dev for short. And it is not going to be a pleasure to meet me. Literally. So you hand over the piece now and save yourself a lot of pain and humiliation.”

  “Hey, I have a question for you. Why the hell do you have sunglasses at night? Are you blind?” I said.

  Unexpectedly, my brilliant conversational skills ticked him off. There was small twitch in his face before his smile got wider.

  “So a duel then? I had hoped you would choose to fight.” He said, and flicked his fingers. The huge burning branch rolled over once and flew straight at me.

  Chapter 9: Bottled Fury

  The long burning branch came hurtling at me, I considered sending a wave of force and shattering it. But then it would split into pieces and those small pieces would be hot sharp pieces of shrapnel that could be worse than the whole branch hitting me. I couldn’t duck it. We wizards have a sense of pride. I’d look weak if I escape the log that way. So I conjured up a strong gust of wind with a thunderous roar of “vayis”. I had to
summon a large amount of air to slow and put down the log and it even rolled a little, I bravely stared it down even though it wanted to step back. Build up.

  Wizards do not fight. It would be a fair fight and wizards avoid fair fights as the probability of death is then very high. And it doesn’t matter who wins. It would be like two godzillas fighting, the city would be the loser. Wizards tend to wreak havoc and usually don’t care about casualties. But my blood was up. If the pretty wizard wanted a duel, then he would get one. We were in a ground with no people around, so there couldn’t be much damage.

  I decided to test him first, so I sent a stream of force at him. It wasn’t weak or strong, yet he swatted it off casually like swatting a fly. That was a bit off-putting. I tried again, this time I moved closer and sent a dual force attack, I sent one towards his knees and the other towards his face. I really am not clear on what happened next. He snapped his fingers and there was a reversal. The forces came back at me. I stopped the one coming towards my knees, but the other one struck. It struck pretty hard and carried me a few yards. I did roll around in the dirt a few times before I stopped.

  This wasn’t going well, I scrambled up. I was a bit undecided on what to do next. “Maybe this will help,” he said and tossed my staff at me. I felt a little awkward, but I wasn’t going to deny a huge advantage. I felt the automatic rush of confidence as I lifted the staff, I pushed all my power way more than I had before and felt it reverberate. The staff crackled and small tendrils of electricity went up the staff. It had never done that before. Time to get smart. Going head-on didn’t work, so I changed tactics.

  I sent a stream of force into the ground a few yards before Dev. There was a small explosion in the ground that send mud flying everywhere, then I sent a burst of air to pull up the mud into his face. Basically blind him before the next attack. The move at my end was perfect, the storm of small stones and sand was so thick I couldn’t even see him. But I did see something fly out of the dust storm at me. It was a huge square brick, I shattered it. But another one came along and another followed it. I looked around and noticed something. The ground had lots of these square little bricks that people use to stack on top of each other to make wickets. What followed was a curious game of dodgeball, only I was dodging huge rocks bigger than my head.