“What are you saying, Danta? I don’t understand, don’t go yet…please…” said Gerua, her hands extended forward. She couldn’t move, but she saw that Danta was standing in the fourth eye on the floor. “What did you mean about what you said earlier...about Kally?” Gerua could see the two small eyes automatically opening and closing.
“Watch out for Bubba,” Danta said again as the lens swallowed him. In a moment, he was gone. The central eye blinked, and Gerua saw a reflection of Danta standing in a long corridor. Pillars stood on both sides of the corridor, the same pillars she had seen in the roof of the ashram leading to the palace of the lord of yog. The eye blinked again and went blank.
One of Airavata’s trunks entered the howdah’s walls and wrapped around her waist. Pulling her out of the howdah Airavata lowered her gently to the forest floor. The mighty immortal in his sage form approached Gerua as she continued to stare blankly at the enormous white elephant, tears flowing down her cheek. Airavata began to shrink until it was just a normal size elephant. The pagoda and the adornment disappeared. The heads on the sides disappeared. The elephant skin began darkening, and as the elephants moved around trampling the clearing further, Gerua had difficulty in identifying which elephant had been Airavata. Gerua’s legs felt weak, and she would have collapsed if the sage had not held her.
The sage looked into her eyes. “You are a remarkable yogini. You have a celestial strength within you. Danta will be back. This world and many others need him. You still have to do a lot to help him fulfill his destiny. You have proven that you truly love your son selflessly. Your love and sacrifice will endure, and this will make you stronger. Now go and continue to fulfill your calling. This is just the beginning.” The sage blessed her and disappeared into the forest.
Except for one big bull elephant, the other elephants and vanara also vanished into the forest. Gerua was alone. Her only company was the large elephant standing in front of her. She stood beside the bull, her head lowered, feeling numb for what seemed like an eternity. The big bull approached her and gently nudged her with his trunk until she looked up. He lifted his right foreleg bending it at its lower joint, urging her to climb on his back.
With a gargantuan effort, Gerua oriented herself to her new reality and climbed onto the elephant’s joint, onto his tusk, and then onto his neck. She straddled the elephant’s neck, and after trampling the ground where Gerua had stood, the bull elephant began to move. She regained her composure, accepting her fate, and urged the elephant to go where Vir would be waiting. She turned the stone on her belt counter-clockwise and activated it. She gently showed the bull the direction by nudging him with her legs. Gerua focused on what Danta had said just before he left, and she knew that she must move on. With her heart still heavy, she began to guide the big bull with a renewed purpose. She was going to be the yogini the immortal had told her she was. Her loss was temporary, and the agony of the partition would pass. Danta was safe and would be back.
CHAPTER 46
DEJECTION
As soon as Vir had imprisoned the blue pishacha, Bubba had lost contact with events in elephant country. He could give orders to the large pishachas remotely, but could not see through them. Bubba immediately changed into his full gigantic windigo form. He spread his wings and took to the air. The terrified aghori in and outside the cave sighed with relief as they watched Bubba fly away. Flying toward the battle site, he hoped that boy had been captured and Gerua had been neutralized. If they were still free for any reason, he meant to find them and capture the boy himself.
Bubba arrived at the scene just as the two aghori were stirring. He landed, transforming back to his human form and approached the aghori. He didn’t want to frighten the aghori—yet. He surveyed the area where the battle had taken place. He knew immediately that his minions had been defeated, his weapons destroyed and his pishachas captured. He had arrived too late.
Without an audience, there was no point in punishing the aghori for failing. As much as Bubba wanted to punish them immediately, he would wait and do it in front of the other aghori. After the defeated aghori narrated the events that took place, Bubba ordered them to track the woman and the boy and see if they could find them. As they left, he controlled an icy torrent of rage brewing inside him.
Once alone, he took out a prism from a necklace he wore and spoke a mantra into it. The necklace illuminated all the participants’ tracks and showed him how each participant had moved. Bubba could make out how Danta and Gerua had fought his minions. He could visualize where the prong had exploded, how Gerua had been knocked down twice and had been separated from Danta. He saw how the nag had helped, capturing the pishacha, knocking out the aghori and crushing the shield. He would take care of the naga that had helped Gerua, he promised himself.
The two aghori had returned with more bad news. Gerua and Danta’s tracks had disappeared where a large herd of elephants had trampled the forest. Most of the herd had gone one way and one bull elephant the other. But this was not unusual as bulls often roamed alone, at times temporarily joining the herd. Gerua had disappeared again, this time with the boy. Bubba sent the two aghori back to the cave system. He wanted a few moments alone.
He was disappointed that they hadn’t captured Danta when Gerua had fallen or, after the trident prong had exploded. She should have been vulnerable even if she had a shield. The explosive was designed to decay any force field. What kind of a shield did she have that neither Asura weapons nor paranormal entities could penetrate? How was it possible that a mere woman, albeit a yogini, and a five-year-old boy could defeat all he had thrown at them? She had disappeared again, and the boy too.
It took some time but Bubba convinced himself she would be back. The events of the last few days could have worked to his advantage; however, he knew he had been outwitted.
Bubba felt the same chill he had felt when he was entombed in the snow cocoon on the mountain so many decades ago. But this time, he could not call any Rakshas for help. He could not tell the Asura what he knew, as well as how wrong they had been. Six years ago, his premonition about the women had been undeniably correct. His siddhi had warned him. But regrettably, the wrong woman had been taken. The one they had been after had escaped and even thrived. The Asura had closed the search for her body. Such a grave mistake had been made.
It was good that the Asura were not concerned about Gerua and believed her to be of no consequence. The Asura were so high and mighty that they could not see the power tiny mortals could wield. Bubba knew better. The conceited Asura had unwisely discarded the importance of this woman. He had tried to warn them. They had no idea that this world was actually the cradle of the Vital Knowledge. She was the key to harnessing the power of this knowledge. She knew where the ashram and its occupants were. Despite all their might, the Asura were imprudent. Their might blurred their vision.
Bubba had to devise a new plan. He changed back to his windigo form and took flight, heading back to the caves. As he flew, something hit him on his back, injuring his right wing. Falling, he saw a huge eagle that had hit him fly away. It could only be Garuda, Bubba thought. Falling toward the thicket, Bubba used his siddhi, Anima, which enabled him to shrink to the smallest size. Now the eagle could not see Bubba. Bubba waited for the eagle to fly away, and then, returning to his normal human size, he ran toward his cave.
* * *
In the ashram, the masters sat in a circle in the peripheral ashram, looking at the roof. A moment after Danta had gone through the eye in the howdah on Airavata, the engraving on the roof changed. In the engraving they could see Danta in the corridor of pillars running toward the palace into the welcoming arms of the lord of yog. The masters were at peace now that the condition had been fulfilled, and a step had been taken toward correcting the disastrous mistake made decades ago. One by one, each of the masters said namaste to Master Shalya, and left for their dwelling units in the inner ashram.
Master Shalya continued to sit alone, engrossed in deep thought. He th
en looked up and waved his hand thrice just as he had done when he had shown the warning to Gerua. The warning of the ancients appeared in front of him, followed by the prophecy, and then the condition. He stared at the revelation for a long time. Eventually, he swiped his hand at the condition, followed by the prophecy, and finally, at the warning. He sat there watching the prophecy and condition fade when he swiped his hand, but the warning remained. He swiped his hand again and again to erase the warning, but the warning remained, glaring at him.
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Dwandv:: The Battle for the Gate Page 24