A huge van came up beside me and came quite close to hitting me. I honked the horn, but the driver was not responding. I was being forced off the road and against a side wall. I gave the little bike full throttle but it wasn’t my pulsar so all I got was a feeble increase of acceleration that the van easily matched. It came closer and closer. I was stuck in between the van and the wall. I was nearly against the wall when the van when the side door for the van opened. The guy inside had a steel pipe in his had that he swung with all might right at my head. I ducked and tried to slow down but the driver matched my speed and slowed down as well. So I did only thing I could do. As he guy swung the pipe again, I grabbed it with both hands and swung one leg over the bike and stepped neatly into the van. There were three more of them besides the driver.
I sent a fist at the thug holding the pipe but he blocked it with his shoulder, and he twisted the pipe. Because I was still a little off balance, he was able to yank the pipe from my hands. I kicked him on the knee. He went down in agony. Meanwhile one of them had gotten behind me and held me while the third one swung a fist into my stomach. The blow knocked the air out of me, but my hands came free. I used my back to force the thug behind me to step back. Into air. The side door was still open, he fell hard and rolled a few times. The bag on my back had guns neatly wrapped up, that I couldn’t reach now.
The shock of seeing their business associate hit the concrete gave me a little breathing space. I still hadn’t recovered fully when I saw a fist sailing at me, I dodged it and sent a fist of my own, in the cramped fighting space. It had to hit something. And it did. Meanwhile the guy with the pipe was rising. I was quicker and was going to land a punch right on his jaw when the driver applied the brakes. I lost my balance and fell to one knee, the other guy didn’t, the steel pipe came around again and I couldn’t duck it. It hit me right on the jaw.
Chapter 20: Squelchy
I woke up in a world of hurt, to add more pain to the injury, I think that the amphetamines that Raja had given me was wearing off. The old pains from the other night slowly came creeping back. I tasted blood in my mouth and I also felt something wet on my head. More of my blood, no doubt. I looked around and I saw that I was tied to a chair. In a huge yard, and there was a small home a few yards away. People were coming in and out of the home with items, they were mostly food that they placed on a table a few yards away from me without even glancing in my direction.
I could feel that someone was behind me. I tried turning my head around but my neck hurt I just said
“You know, if we are playing hide n seek. You would win.”
“Funny.” A voice that sounded familiar.
“Funny man. Not so scary anymore.” The man who had spoken came up and faced me. It was crime lord Manja, the one whose building I had set on fire, whose guards I had scared to death. His was face was complete mess, what little I could see was covered in scars. I then recalled that he had spit a mouthful of chewed-up blade pieces at me and that I had sent it right back. With great satisfaction, I saw that his face had been torn apart by it. What was a little depressing however was he was probably going to do that to me. And there was nothing I could do to prevent it.
“Nice facial, is it gonna make your skin smooth and silky,” I asked sweetly.
“No, this is what is keeping the stitches together” He said touching his face gingerly.
“So you are the little man, who came to my home and destroyed me. My reputation. You were so easy to find.”
“How?” I asked him.
A man in police uniform stepped into view. I recognized him as the police inspector whom I had given Bloodbeard’s head.
“That khaki doesn’t suit you, rat. Why don’t you find a snakeskinHe rushed at me with fist raised but Manja stopped him.
“No, No, No. You’re not going to spoil the fun that I’ve prepared. Come take a look.” He pulled him to the table and sat down.
He reached for a huge piece of chicken kabab and put it in his mouth. He clapped his hands and faraway a honking sounded and a truck came into view. It was pointed directly at me. Manja looked at the dirty cop and said, “Have you ever heard the sound of something exploding.” As he spoke little pieces of meat flew everywhere. But that didn’t discourage him. He reached for another piece and stuffed it in his mouth. I watched with disgusted fascination at how there was still space in that mouth for more.
The cop said no. So Manja bought his palms together and clapped loudly.
“Hear that? Something like that except imagine that one of the hands is made of metal”
It didn’t take a genius to figure out what he was planning, but it did nothing to reduce the fear.
He pointed to the truck and said “That truck is going to go down the road and come back up as fast as it can. And then it is going to hit him.”
Suddenly he made the clapping sound “Pachak!” He exclaimed. “It is a sound you will never forget in your life. It is … it is … how to say … squelchy. It is squelchy. And we have the front row tickets”
He laughed with utter disregard as I nearly wet myself. The cop laughed along with him. Screw me for trusting the cops. Usually betrayal isn’t a worry if I had my power. But now I was helpless. Damn me for interfering in mortal business. And it couldn’t have happened at a worse time. I thought of explaining my predicament and bargaining for my release. Then I almost laughed. I was completely immobile and unable to move an inch. Devakratha was going to get the Gandiva after all.
I wasn’t going to go down fighting, I was going to die in fear, in humiliation. A Guardian captured and killed in a pathetic way by mortals. It seemed so funny, I could almost hear the laughter of the other Guardians. I was expecting death before the end of the day, but not like this.
I managed to keep quiet. They were going to take my life but they weren’t going to get any satisfaction.
Someone came up to Manja and said, “The load has arrived, sir”. Manja nodded and said, “Bring it and keep it in front of the house”.
“Business is booming, thanks to you. I have been forced to expand into other areas and it has been working splendidly.”
Another van rolled out and they unloaded a few huge cages, like for dogs, I couldn’t see clearly in the failing light.
“You know, I have to thank you properly for my latest investment. What would you like?” He said to the cop as he bit into another leg piece.
The cop was shameless “Sir, the wife has been pestering me for a vacation to Switzerland”. He couldn’t even pronounce the name correctly. He said it as ‘sweetiserland’. Manja clapped him on the back “With a wife? Come on, that’s no fun. Take a mistress. Hell, take two.”
“Thank you Sir” the cop said profusely.
Meanwhile I was praying like I never had before. Desperately. I was not afraid of death, I just did not want to die here. Manja finished the leg piece and waved his hands at the truck. The truck went down the straight road.
I could hear him revving the engine from far away.
“You better step back officer, bits of flesh and blood are gonna hit you. We don’t want any blood on that uniform. Besides I want to enjoy this pleasure alone.” Manja was telling the cop who turned back towards the house.
The truck rushed out all of a sudden and was headed straight for me. He was coming at me from quite a distance so it would take a few seconds to hit me and the collision would squash me for sure. All of a sudden I heard piteous cries. At first I thought it was coming from me, I was about to die after all. But it wasn’t, I turned and spotted the source. The cages held little children. In the cage was another girl with short hair. Shock hit my body and held me in a deathly grip. Everything else faded away, I could focus and see the little dirty girl clearly. I could see the long line of tears left on her cheek. Shame, guilt and anger coiled and condensed into a white hot light of rage in my mind. As when a diamond is struck at right angles, it shatters, rage travelled throughout my body and into my mind and hit it like a cannon. A scream erupted o
ut of me like never before. It should have torn my throat. I was out of control shaking uncontrollably.
The rage sent shock waves all through my battered body and it aligned my chakras and did something more. It happened in my abdomen, I felt something uncoiling. It was as if a huge anaconda, which had been sleeping for a thousand years, had just been woken up rudely and was pissed off. A source of strength surged up through my spine washing all the pain like a tsunami wave. At the end of the scream, the person tied to the chair was not the same as the one a few minutes ago. I had changed. Power flowed through my nerves looking for a release. It was the tip of my fingers begging to be unleashed. The Guardian had returned. My mojo was back, baby.
The ropes holding me turned to ash that flew away into the wind. I looked up to see the truck still speeding at me. I stood up and faced it full on. I stretched my hand, palm pointing towards the truck. “Hatha” the force rushed like an enraged elephant and struck the right wheel of the truck blowing it clean off. I didn’t stop. Right on the tail of the force was a gale. “Vayis.” the gale erupted and I put in more energy I had ever before and it streamed out of me effortlessly. The gale was pointed at the gap of the truck where the wheel was missing. I held up the gale and made a lifting action with my arm. The gale that was at the exact place of the right wheel also went in an upward direction. And lifted the truck and tipped it over. It was like I had a huge spoon of solid air that I had used to lift the truck and throw it out of my way. It had tipped over but it had been at such a high speed that it didn’t stop, it changed direction. Out of my path and into the path of Manja, who was watching open mouthed with the half-chewed chicken in his mouth. The truck impacted with the table and Manja and went on its path like nothing had happened. Manja was right before, the impact was, in fact, squelchy. It was a sound I could never forget in my life.
The truck rolled to a stop nearly a hundred yards away. There was no trace of Manja. I had used more energy than ever before and yet I wasn’t even out of breath. I flexed my hands and shoulders, the pain had gone. I felt like a new man. And the power, oh, the power. It was so sweet, I could just close my eyes and feel it flowing in me with force of the river Ganges in flood.
I let out a deep breath and looked at the house. Everybody was frozen, including the cop. He didn’t even try to run away as I approached him. I held his collar and dragged him close to me. He was muttering something.
“Stop.” He stopped immediately.
“Release the children. You will put them in good orphanages. All of them and pay for their education yourself. You will do this before the end of today. I will come back and check, if I even find the smallest thing out of place. I will roast you over a slow fire.”
He nodded fervently. I let him go and he ran to the cages and started opening the cages. I stood and watched as I saw the little girl I had seen earlier come out and join her other little friends. She was looking at me with naked fear. I managed to throw a small smile, her fear turned to terror and she hid her face in the shirt of another boy next to her. So this is what I had become, a bogeyman, who scares children and the people around him. I walked away pondering how the Guardians were going to punish me. I had broken a cardinal rule, the topmost rule. I had killed. From the very start, I had been taught to value the sanctity of human life and yet in the past two days I had been the reason for ending of lives. Both died brutally and I was the cause. I felt powerful and powerless at the same time—powerless to change the past and bring back that little girl. But at least I could change the future, what was before a hopeless quest had become a fighting chance. I felt better than I ever had before. Guess what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. Now all I had to do was to release the temple yaksa and keep Devakratha occupied and leave the rest to the yaksa. It was still an incredibly risky venture, Devakratha was still way stronger than me and he would probably destroy me. But if the Gandiva remains safe, it would be worth it.
I took a bike that was parked in front of the house and sped away. Manja and his goons had carried me a fair distance from the city, and it took me a while to reach the temple. I rushed through and made to the back wall of the garbagriha. There were still a few people about, but there was no time. I clearly recalled the mantra for the temple in Madurai and practiced it once. I took a deep breath and prepared to transport. I placed my hand on the correct symbol and said the mantra loud and clear. And nothing happened. I tried again, same result. I recalled the mantra, it was perfect. I checked the symbol and tried again. Nothing happened, the temple at Madurai must be locked down. I couldn’t access it. I had failed.
Chapter 21: Epiphany
I had failed. Again. It seems that the universe was playing with me. Just giving me a glimpse of hope before snatching it away. Words couldn’t explain what I felt. It was like when you stand at a bus stop for a bus to Majestic and only the ones going to Shivajinagar show up. [S12] [GGN13] Have you ever hoped for something desperately with everything in you, for a job or for your girl to say yes to marry you only to be rejected. Take that feeling and multiply that a hundred times. I had come so close. I came back home with my tail between my legs.
Raja was in my home. Kajur was seated on top of a cabinet looking at him. As per my instructions, Kajur remained invisible to Raja. Raja was calling someone. He hung up as soon as he saw me and started shouting
“What the hell, man? What was that weird message? Basically it said that you were going to some place and that you might not return. It freaked me out. I don’t know anybody in the Guardians and the all the temples I called thought I was a prank caller.” His infuriated face calmed down after seeing my sad face.
“I didn’t go.” I said.
“Changed your mind?” asked Raja in a calmer voice.
“It was changed for me.” I explained what happened.
He tossed the phone over to me. I tried calling some of my Guardian emergency contacts, but there was no response. That must be some war they were fighting. The temple priests were all in a flutter. Basically all the temples in the entire state of Tamil Nadu had gone into lockdown for the night without their permission. They had no idea what had caused this. I did. Must be Devakratha.
It was a huge feat in itself that he had managed to lockdown all the temples in the entire state. There was no way to use temple transport. I was stuck. And obviously air travel is out of the question, since I am on the police watch records suspected of involvement in several incidents. All untrue of course. If I walked into an airport, all the alarms would probably go off. Besides even if I were to find an urgent flight at this time.
There are no airports close to Point Calimere. It would take a long time to reach there by car. It would be all over by then.
I put my face in my hands and cursed myself. I felt lethargic like the events of the day had sucked the energy out of me. Devakratha had stretched his arm from across the state and tweaked my nose. He must be laughing right now.
Raja came and sat down next to me. “So let me get this straight. You think that you are the cause of the girl’s death and so you track down the person responsible and then you get all high and noble and decide that you are going to die and rush off immediately to meet that end. Next you were able to obtain your power and still you rush headlong into danger without a plan. What happened to you, man? You are putting your emotions ahead of your intellect. Use your brain. Bad things happen. And they happen to good people all the time. That’s just how it is. As a Guardian, your job is to rise above all this and protect your city and its people. You find the best possible way to do that.”
“You have to stop punishing yourself for the little girl’s death. It was unfortunate and extremely unfair. But it wasn’t your fault. ”
“Look, don’t think so little of your life. You need to stop and think. Now, this is a movie dialogue, but it applies here. ‘Don’t be a Kshatriya, be a Chanakya’ ”
It sounded corny as all hell. But it was true. His words were like a slap. Like he took a bottle of w
ater from the fridge and threw it in my face. I was wallowing in self-pity and I had to stop. It was true that I was the cause of the death of that girl and that pain will torment me forever. But I was focusing too much on that. I had to carry that pain and go on. But as a Guardian, my task was incomplete.
“Thank you.” I said gratefully.
“But the reality here is that I am still stuck here. It means that Devakratha is free to summon the bow without any resistance. You wouldn’t happen to have a plan in the form of another movie dialogue, do you?”
“Nope, that’s upto you.” Raja said
“I’m all out of ideas.” I said.
“Well, ok then. Lets drink.” He went to the fridge and tossed me a drink. We both sat on the sofa in a companionable silence and drank. I was trying to think how Devakratha might have locked down all the temples in an entire state. Did he go temple by temple or did he conduct a single spell to do so? He would have had to make a list first and then go across collecting all the temple mantras and then conduct one single large spell. That’s how I would have done it if I had as much magical ability as Devakratha. I looked at the drink and wanted to drown myself in it.
Drown in my drink. Drown. Submerge myself. In water, specifically underwater. When the epiphany hit, I didn’t recognize it. It was my first one. I mean, sure, I had a lot of good ideas but never a brainstorm. It was genius. The idea was crazier than all my ideas put together. I got all excited, dropped the drink and went for the laptop. I searched for a term to get all the information I could. The term was ‘The Seven Pagodas of Mahabalipuram’.
Kajur understood and got really excited. I looked at him questioningly and he was jumping up and down noiselessly nodding his head. The Seven Pagodas refer to a myth. That once in eighth century BC in Mahabalipuram, the king Narasimhavarman II built seven huge temples. Of the seven temples only one, exists, the Shore Temple. The others were believed to be a myth even though there are several records of travellers who had seen it. Recently the tsunami of 2004 had uncovered a part of the second temple and further underwater explorations had uncovered several other structures like temples.
The Weapon of the Devas Page 15
