Her ambitions had trumped her heart.
Chapter 12: The Treasure of the Gods
They trekked past Roop Kund the next morning, the small and beautiful glacial lake that had housed hundreds of ancient skeletons, and were well past the three mountains by the afternoon, as they trotted ahead slowly on the snow laden paths. Rehann’s eyes were red as he had cried the entire night before passing out in the car in which he was being held. Aanya had to rub her eyes again and again as the lack of sleep and the whiteness all around her was making her delusional. Shayna walked next to Aarav, asking him a few questions here and there only to receive no reply from him. The three of them had their hands tied and a Bull following them as they moved along the less trodden path. To a tourist that place would have been heaven on earth itself. Huge snow-clad mountains had sprung up all around them, and bright sunshine from above bounced off the sheet of snow beneath their feet. But they knew that the things have changed. Both Aarav and Shayna knew that they wouldn’t be able to ever go back to the way they were. Shayna’s disappointment with Aarav was only matched by her desire to claim the treasure of the gods.
Hidden amongst the highest of mountains, it lies;
Shielded by the holy waters, it rests.
The greatest blessing of the Gods, the greatest secret of mankind;
Shall never be found, shall never see light.
Yet the worthy who seeks the secret,
Shall cross the treacherous waters adorned by the dead,
Cross the three guards of gods, who stand straight and proud.
And once they see the sisters, the little one holding onto the eldest;
Their ears will hear the noise,
To the supreme treasure a man will see with his eyes.
Shayna read out the final riddle again. “I cannot believe that you deciphered this so easily. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise to meet you after all, Aarav Kohrrathi.”
He kept staring ahead as his eyes met the Nanda Devi peak.
“There you have your sisters”, she continued. “The little one holding onto the eldest.”
Aarav stopped in his tracks and closed his eyes.
“Where is my treasure Aarav?”
“Shut up”, he brooded.
“If we had gotten married, we’d have had so many fights.”
“Shut up and listen.”
That is when they all became quiet and heard something.
“Is that a waterfall?” K asked as he went to his left to hear the sound more clearly. Aanya snapped out of her delusions and looked for the source of sound too, while Rehann kept staring at Shayna with a murderous rage in his eyes.
“There is a bloody waterfall below the crevice over there”, K came back to report to Shayna.
“Their ears will hear the noise to the supreme treasure a man will see with his eyes ”, she narrated. “Poetic justice, don’t you think my love?”
Aarav looked the other way and slowly walked ahead towards the crevice, a few hundred meters away from where they stood. The fracture in the land was deep, the green ice towards the top vanishing into darkness as it went down. The gap was narrow, hardly twenty-five feet in between the two ends and the walls closed in further as it went deeper. Aarav picked up a big stone lying nearby and dropped it into the crevice.
“That is almost seven hundred meters deep. Perhaps even more”, he said.
“How’d you know?” K asked.
“Distance is the product of speed and time. Maybe you’d have learnt that if you’d have rather been to a school instead of a slaughterhouse”, Rehann buffeted.
“Can I hit him?” K asked Shayna before moving towards Rehann.
“No”, she denied his request and went further ahead as she gazed down the darkness of the crevice. Aarav, who stood next to her wondered what would happen if she fell down it, his sleeplessness and fatigue from the hike, almost making him lose control of his logical faculty. All she needed was a little push, after all. But he averted her gaze as he controlled himself, focusing his mind to hear the sound of a waterfall he was unable to see.
“There is a narrow path down from there”, one of the bulls who had went ahead to inspect the crevice, spoke as he came back.
Shayna looked towards Aarav with a smile. “After you”, she said as she put her hand around his arms and started walking with him. They went ahead slowly, one of the bulls leading the party down the narrow path, the others following him cautiously.
“I, watch your step”, K said to the bull walking in the front.
“How did they carry the treasure through here?” I asked as he carefully placed his next step.
“It is the same as the pyramids in Egypt. Aliens helped them”, M, the other bull spoke up.
Aarav rolled his eyes really hard as he continued down the path, Shayna walking with a smile alongside him.
“It’s a beautiful day isn’t it, my love?” She asked him, only to be met by his haughty stare. “Say something Aarav, you can cheer up too. In a few hours we will finally have our treasure.”
“Not ours. Yours”, he replied coldly only to receive a shy smile from her.
“I like you even more when you act like this. All brooding and angry and irritated. Your left eyebrow goes up a bit while you clench your teeth and stick your cheeks in. You suddenly appear so charismatic.”
“Then take my head with you when you are done.”
“Don’t talk like that”, she teased him. “When I’ll have the treasure and the ultimate power that comes along with it, I’ll be generous you know. I’ll even forgive your sins if you please me.”
“We both know what is going to happen once we find the treasure”, he added. “You’ll point your gun at me again and shoot me this time without even thinking for a second.”
“Then I’d say that you know me better than you give yourself credit for.”
“No matter how powerful you think you may become”, he continued. “You’ll be the one who’ll fall in the end.”
“And I’ll ensure that I prove you wrong.”
“I can see the waterfall”, I yelled from ahead as Shayna and Aarav stopped and looked into each other’s eyes.
“Hidden amongst the highest of mountains, it lies; shielded by the holy waters, it rests ”, Aarav recited the lines from the riddle.
“I want to kiss you so bad right now”, she said staring into his eyes.
“I want to kill you so bad right now”, he retorted. “Too bad though. We are both not getting what we want”, he said as he walked ahead past her and looked at the waterfall himself.
He wasn’t able to believe his eyes, the beauty of the falls making him forget his worries for a moment. The waterfall seemed to emerge out of nowhere, its narrow head expanding into a massive body as it progressed deeper into the crevice. Its ice blue waters stood out against the green rocks they seemed to be surrounded by, the temperature only appeared to fall as they walked closer to it.
“The structure of the crevice overhead must prevent sunlight from falling to these parts”, Shayna said. “The greatest blessing of the Gods, the greatest secret of mankind; shall never be found, shall never see light. ”
They walked close to the waterfalls until it passed from right over their heads. The droplets of the cold water sprayed on them as their eyes found it difficult to adjust in the low lights, forcing the Bulls to take out their torches.
“There’s a cave over here”, I yelled again as he excitedly called out to the rest of his party. They all soon approached the wide opening to the cave, still being sprayed on by the icy water and trying to move carefully as the ground beneath their feet became slippery. And soon their torch lights fell on a single idol that stood stout before them. Four golden lions mounted on their hind legs, each facing a cardinal direction, atop a tall fifteen feet high pillar, with several Sanskrit
markings engraved all over and the Ashoka Chakra in the center.
“This is it”, Aanya spoke looking at the Lion Capital of Ashoka, the historic sigil which the great emperor had erected at various places across India and which also served as India’s national emblem. It was justice that all the history Aarav had advanced on from the start of his quest had come full circle.
“What does it say?” Shayna asked Aarav who carefully doled his eyes over the Sanskrit inscriptions.
“If you stand here, you are worthy;
For behind rests Gods’ own treasure,
You have become a part of history;
For here ends your journey.
Let the Lion’s head mark the way;
As you attain the glory you deserve,
Be wise, Be just, Be noble, and Be kind;
For the greatest treasure awaits you behind.”
Aarav recited it again in his head as he figured out what to do. “Let the Lion’s head mark the way ”, he narrated as he placed his fingers on a small circular hole just beneath where the inscription had ended and knew what he had to do. “Bring me the key that we found in Nepal”, he ordered without even looking back. Shayna nodded towards M, who proceeded to bring out the artifact from a bag that he was carrying. He presented Aarav with the cylindrical, metallic object that they had found in Nepal. Aarav looked at the Lionhead towards one of its end. “Here goes the Lion’s head”, he said as he inserted the key in the hole and twisted it in a full circle.
All of a sudden they felt vibrations beneath their feet as the end of the cave before them suddenly started opening up. The rock hard surface turned out to be a giant door, which took its own time to part away. “Behold the greatest treasure in the history of mankind”, Aarav said as bright lights hit his face, making him forget all of his troubles and just craving for solving a hunt. As soon as the doors opened, hundreds of torches lit up inside the cave automatically, which was bigger than any of them could have imagined, and greeting them before their eyes, was the treasure.
The torch lights bounced off the plethora of precious metals as their eyes adjusted to the bling before them. They saw chests numbering in thousands, filled with precious jewels and coins to the brim. They saw mountains of gold coins scattered all around carelessly. They doled their eyes upon the tall golden statues of warriors and gods, the garlands of pearls and swords made from silver, precious gems seemed to have been thrown everywhere like cherries on top. And they only saw the depth of the cave getting deeper and deeper, with there being no end in sight. There were golden chalices and crowns and thrones and banners. There were golden statues of Hindu gods, thrice the size of a human being. The men weren’t even able to see the color of the floor as there wasn’t a single spot where gold wasn’t present. They took their first steps inside the cave and were struck by the magnanimity of the sight so much that they had to remind themselves constantly that they weren’t dreaming. Shayna walked a little further as she came across a massive twenty-five-foot-tall gilded statue of Lord Vishnu, the preserver of life according to the Hindu mythology. Aanya and Rehann moved to the other side, as they gazed at the artifacts that were carefully placed on stands. There were elegant robes studded with rubies and sapphires. There were hundreds of scrolls that lay frozen. There were golden weapons and daggers forged from rare metals. And of course, lots of gold bars.
Aarav stood at back at the entrance of the cave and took support of the wall, his eyes moist at seeing the greatest treasure in the history of mankind. The journey that started out by decoding a farewell note from a father to his daughter had made him uncover the treasure of the gods themselves.
None of the men spoke a word. They didn’t jump in the air excitedly, nor did they yell at the top of their voices. They just gazed at the sight calmly, realizing that their treasure hunt had officially come to an end. There was a brief moment when they all looked at each other, a moment of understanding when they forgot whether they were the good or the evil, but instead came to a quiet conclusion that in some way or the other, everyone had contributed something to the hunt, without which it probably would have been impossible to discover the secret treasure of the Himalayas.
And then K pulled out his gun and pointed it at Aarav.
“You know what is going to happen now”, K spoke in a grim voice. “I’m going to make you all pay for the trouble you have caused me.”
Aarav simply looked at the treasure cave for the last time before turning back and putting his hands behind his head.
“Out now, all of you”, K continued as he instructed I and M to pull Rehann and Aanya out of the cave. They were all brought outside and were again pelted with the slow showers from the waterfall raging behind them. By the time K had started swinging his unbroken hand on Aarav, who had stopped resisting, Shayna came out.
“Stop it”, Shayna ordered K only to make him mad.
“Oh don’t you dare take his side now”, he barked as he continued stomping his feet into Aarav. “You… promised me his head… once we found the treasure. And I am not letting him walk out of here alive.”
“I said stop”, Shayna spoke with firmness as she pointed a gun at him.
K stared at her in disbelief. “Oh I don’t believe you.”
She kept marking her gun at him without moving.
“Oh I don’t believe you”, K uttered again. “After everything that he did. After he betrayed you. After he had all my men killed. You’re still taking his side?”
“I am not taking his side.”
“Then why are you pointing a gun at me?” he yelled as he pulled out his own gun and pointed it at her.
“Because…” she shifted her gun towards Aarav. “Because I have to be the one who’d kill him.”
“Shayna you don’t have to”, Aanya interrupted. “You found the treasure. It is yours. You don’t have to kill him. He trusted you. He loved you. He found the bloody treasure for you. You cannot do it.”
“Shayna let us go”, Rehann uttered with the same coldness, still unable to overcome the fact that Shayna had shot his sister. “You have your treasure now. Rule the world as you want to, nobody will be able to stop you. You don’t have to do this.”
“Why don’t you ask him that?” she spoke, still pointing her gun at Aarav. “He knew it that I would kill him and he helped me find the treasure anyway. He won’t cry. He won’t beg. He knew that his end was near and he has accepted it.”
“Just don’t go for my face”, Aarav added. “I would never want to spoil its memory for you.”
“Oh you don’t have to ask that.”
“Let both of them go”, he spoke after thinking for a while.
“You cannot ask me that.”
“I was the one who wronged you, right? They didn’t. Aanya was forced into the hunt because her father was a master and Rehann was… well he just tagged along with me.”
“Aarav stop it”, Rehann grew angrier. “How come any of us wronged her when she was the evil master all this while?”
“I was never evil Rehann. I just saw things as they were”, Shayna retorted.
“Oh really! You murdered four masters, led her father to kill himself, and then had the librarian killed. Then there was Mrs. Jayaratne’s husband. And now my sister. Not to mention the fact that these are just the ones I know of. You were never evil you say? You’re the very definition of evil to me.”
She kept pointing her gun at Aarav, her anxious eyes looking into his.
“The chill of the waters is killing me Shayna. I’d appreciate it if you’d do it quickly”, he said with a blank face. “What happened? You’ve found the treasure. All the men you killed, and all the troubles that you caused; but something doesn’t feel right, does it?”
“Stop speaking”, her hands shook.
“You committed these atrocities. You ordered those slaughters. You ended up creat
ing so much chaos. All this while you had justified your acts by saying that it will all be over once you find the treasure. Well guess what, you found it. Then what is wrong?”
“Stop speaking Aarav, or I’ll shoot you.”
“Sometimes you yourself get sucked into the pit of chaos that you help create. And no matter how much you try to reassure yourself that you’re right; when it all ends, you lose even though you have won.”
She looked away at the magnificent falls as tears welled up in her eyes.
“Fine. If you won’t do it… I will”, K spoke as he turned his gun towards Aarav’s head.
All of a sudden, a loud bang echoed across the place, the gunshot reverberating far and deep through the crevice, even overshadowing the sound of the waterfall for a moment. Rehann and Aanya stood shocked as the sudden noise shook the daylights out of them. They saw the bullet entering his skull, and squashing it into pieces as thick blood and pieces of bones crumbled to the wet rocks below where he was standing; his tall, lean body, slowly moving to a side and falling down with a gentle thud.
And then there was silence for a moment.
Aarav saw the disfigured body of K lying at his feet and he slowly looked up towards Shayna who was holding the gun; smoke still coming out of its barrel. And then Rehann seized the opportunity as he grabbed the gun of I, who was holding him and kicked him hard in the chest, only to make him lose his balance and fall down the crevice along with the waterfall. Shayna looked at M and pulled the trigger without hesitating, effectively bringing an end to the Broods of the Bulls. In a matter of seconds, it was all over.
Rehann pointed his gun at Shayna as he watched her breaking down. Aarav and Aanya got up slowly and wrapped their heads around what had happened.
“I’m sorry”, Shayna cried. “I failed you. I failed all of you.”
Rehann kept pointing his gun at her and stole a glance at Aarav.
“I’m a horrible, horrible person”, she continued weeping. “Just do it. Kill me already.”
Secret of the Himalayan Treasure Page 20