'Where will your sword be?' Melcorka asked.
'I will find a sword,' Kulothunga replied at once. 'I'll join you later.' Turning away, he slipped back inside the palace.
'Somebody will kill him, for sure,' Kosala said.
'He's big enough and ugly enough to look after himself,' Melcorka said. 'I must find Bradan.'
Melcorka had left by the nearest door, emerging into an unfamiliar part of the city. People thronged the narrow streets, or peered out from the small, barred windows of the houses. 'You!' She grabbed the nearest man. 'Which way is the great square?'
The man goggled at her through big brown eyes, unable to say anything. Melcorka pushed him away in disgust. 'Anybody!' She raised her voice. 'Which way is it to the great square?'
'Melcorka!' Kosala touched her arm. 'This way!' He led on, turning every few moments to ensure that Melcorka kept up. 'We may be too late.'
The square opened up before them, lined with soldiers, while the citizens watched and waited in near silence. Even as Melcorka approached, a rock smashed down, crushing three people in the crowd. Once the initial yells and screams died down, the remainder shuffled over the smeared copses as if nothing had happened. They stared toward the central space.
'This is surreal,' Melcorka said.
'Welcome to the world of the rakshasa,' Kosala said. 'Welcome to a world of never-ending suffering and pain. Welcome to a land bereft of hope, where life is a torment and death a gateway to darkness.'
'Where is Bradan? Melcorka balanced Defender on her right shoulder. 'Where is my man?'
She did not have to look far. A blare of trumpets battered her ears, and a squad of Thiruzha warriors pushed aside one section of the crowd. Melcorka did not see where the elephants came from. One moment the centre of the square was empty, the next, the animals were there.
Three elephants walked in line abreast, with the sun glinting on the metal spikes that covered their trunks and protruded from their knees. Each elephant had a howdah on its back, with a wiry mahout sitting behind the ears. Bhim occupied the howdah of the elephant on the left, with Dhraji sitting in state on the elephant on the right and a hooded, cloaked figure on the elephant in the centre.
'Who is that?' Melcorka asked.
'That is the mysterious one.' Kosala's voice shook. 'Nobody knows who or what he is, or even if it is a man, demon, woman or god.'
Melcorka ran her hand along the blade of Defender. She felt a thrill of unease. She had never been able to kill even one of these rakshasas, and now it seemed there were three of them to fight at the same time.
Bearnas' words returned: 'Use the steel from the west bathed in water from the north to defeat the evil from the south when the sun sets in the east.' What could that mean?
Melcorka looked around. The square had an opening on each side, a narrow channel through which the crowds surged when they came to this terrible place. The sun was dipping in the west, highlighting the hills of the Ghats and streaming along the channel between the houses. There would be no sunset in the east this evening. Perhaps this was not the day to defeat the rakshasas. Maybe this was the day to die.
Melcorka took a deep breath. She had always known that death was the ultimate end of any who chose the path of the sword. She would have liked a longer life; she would have liked to see the sun settle behind Schiehallion again… to feel the cool breeze of the Hebrides and smell the perfume of a peat-fire flame. She would have liked to rescue Bradan from his torment. Well, some things were not to be. She must face death as she had met life, with a smile on her face and a jest on her lips.
The high piping cut through the crash of elephants' feet on the ground. The oystercatcher landed on the head of the central elephant, ignored the mahout's efforts to dislodge it and pointed its red bill at Melcorka.
Melcorka frowned. What was the oystercatcher trying to tell her? The message was clear as it exploded within her head.
Why are you giving up? Are you accepting defeat so readily, even before the first clash of steel on steel?
Melcorka shook her head. Bearnas had provided the key to victory. All she needed was to find the lock that it fitted. A surge of hope chased away the gloom.
Melcorka stepped forward. She knew that the rakshasas had been playing with her mind. Depression and hopelessness were their prime weapons. If the rakshasas convinced their enemy that victory was impossible, then their battle was won even before the war began. Wars were won in the mind and the spirit, as much as in contests of steel and muscle.
'Where is Bradan?' Melcorka pushed through the crowd. 'I am here for Bradan!'
The elephants had halted in the centre of the square, with the light of the dipping sun glinting on their armoured shoulders. Dhraji smiled down from her howdah.
'Have you come to die, little girl?' Pearls glinted around her forehead and neck.
'I have come for Bradan.' Melcorka raised her voice. 'I am Melcorka of Alba and who dares meddle with me?'
'Oh, I dare, foolish child,' Dhraji spoke softly. 'Bhim dares, and my friend here also dares.'
Only then did Melcorka see Bradan. He stood at the edge of the square with his hands tied behind his back and a gag in his mouth. Two Thiruzha warriors held him.
'One bound man against three rakshasas with elephants,' Melcorka said. 'That's fair odds.'
Dhraji's smile did not waver. 'Bradan betrayed me,' she said. 'He has to die, but in dying, he has achieved something far more important.'
'What may that be?' Melcorka took a couple of practice swings with Defender. The blade sang as she hissed it through the air.
'He acted as bait to bring you here,' Dhraji said. 'Why do you think there were so few defenders at Kalipuram? I want to kill you myself, Melcorka, slowly and in public.' Dhraji spread her arms wide. 'I don't care about Thiruzha. I can get another kingdom anytime I like. I wanted to get you here.'
'Am I so vital to you?' Melcorka asked. 'I am only a poor girl from the western isles.' Striding across to Bradan, she pushed aside the guards. 'Run,' she said. 'Or die.'
When the first guard drew his sword, Melcorka killed him. The second fled. Melcorka cut Bradan free and removed his gag.
'Melcorka?' Bradan blinked at her. 'Where am I? How did you get here?'
'Dhraji is about to kill us,' Melcorka said. 'Run.' She looked around. Kosala stood at the edge of the crowd with his face set in defiance. 'Kosala, if you want to prove yourself as my friend, I charge you to look after Bradan. Take him to safety.'
'What about you?' Bradan understood the situation at once. He shook his head. 'I'm going nowhere.'
'Nor am I.' Kosala grinned at her.
'You're a pair of fools,' Melcorka said.
At that point, the elephants began their advance with slow, ponderous steps. Melcorka had no more time to argue.
I might not be able to kill a rakshasa, but I can remove its toys.
Running forward, she leapt as high as she could and thrust out, killing Bhim's mahout. The man fell, leaving the beast without any direction. It blundered sideways, barging into the central elephant, which reacted by thrusting sideways with its tusks. As the mahout tried desperately to control it, Melcorka hauled herself up the side of the first beast, slashed casually at Bhim and jumped onto the central elephant. The mahout ducked away, swung his iron goad at her and died as Melcorka decapitated him.
Realising that he was next, the mahout of Dhraji's elephant turned his beast sideways and made it reach for Melcorka with its trunk. Melcorka avoided the curling tip, jumped onto the elephant's back and killed the mahout with as much ease as she had the previous two. Leaping back to the ground, she rolled and regained her feet.
'That was well done,' Kosala said, as the three elephants raised their trunks, trumpeted loudly and barged into each other. Bhim's beast ran through the cordon of soldiers and began to wreak mayhem among the crowd, just as another catapult-fired boulder crashed into the buildings on the north side of the square, bringing down a shower of masonry.
/> Dhraji slid from her elephant to land on her feet and motioned for the others to follow. They stood side by side, with Bhim still on the left and the mysterious hooded one in the centre.
Melcorka advanced, swinging Defender. 'Fight me,' she said.
The three rakshasas stood side by side. 'Depart!' Dhraji shouted. Her voice resonated above the screams of the crowd and the squealing of the elephants. 'Get back to your posts, soldiers! Go home, the rest.'
The double crash of falling rocks helped speed up the process. The crowd fled, the noise diminished and within minutes, Melcorka, Bradan and Kosala faced the three rakshasas across the empty square, with only the dead mahouts to remind them that the elephants had ever been there.
'This is familiar,' Bradan said, as Melcorka handed him his staff. 'My own staff again.' He ran his thumb over Columba's Cross and tapped the staff on the ground.
'I killed you an hour or two ago,' Melcorka told him.
'Oh? How did you do it?'
'I cut your head off.' Melcorka smiled at him. 'It was a rakshasa that looked exactly like you. Ugly-looking brute it was, too.'
'I didn't feel a thing.' Bradan said. 'Did you know it wasn't me?'
'I was fairly sure.'
'Next time, make wholly sure, please,' Bradan said. 'I would hate you to make a mistake. You'd never forgive yourself.'
'What are you two doing?' Kosala asked. 'We're meant to be fighting the rakshasas!'
'Oh, they can wait,' Bradan said. 'Some things are more important than fighting evil.'
'May I join in?' Kulothunga strolled casually into the square. 'Or is this a private quarrel?' He was dressed in his usual finery, with his face clean and freshly shaved except for his curling moustache.
'You are always welcome,' Melcorka said. 'After all, you are the best warrior there ever has been.'
'You haven't forgotten me, then.' Drawing his sword, Kulothunga kissed the blade in a gesture as melodramatic as anything Melcorka had ever seen.
'How can anybody ever forget you?' Melcorka asked.
'That is true.'
'Are we going to fight?' Kosala asked.
'You are very impatient to die,' Dhraji said. 'For that, I shall kill your friends first and save you to the last.'
The mysterious one stepped back and lifted its hand. Immediately, a circle of mirrors appeared around the square.
'What is that for?' Kosala wondered.
'Don't you wish to watch your friends die from a hundred different angles?' Dhraji asked.
'I wish to kill you,' Melcorka said. 'And I shall kill you.'
Dhraji laughed. 'Vanity, vanity.' She smiled. 'You will fight and die in ignorance.'
Vanity! The weakness of the rakshasa!
Melcorka shook her head. 'Fight me, Dhraji. We have affairs to settle, you and I. Bradan, Kosala and I are ready for you.'
'You have forgotten me,' Kulothunga said. 'Don't you remember who I am?' He stood in front of the mirror with his back to Melcorka, grooming his moustache.
'I know you are not Kulothunga,' Melcorka told him. 'I rescued the real Kulothunga from the dungeons not an hour ago. You are another rakshasa.'
'I have all Kulothunga's skills and memories.' The rakshasa did not seem surprised to be discovered. 'I know he has defeated you already in swordplay, archery and wrestling.' He preened himself. 'I also have Kulothunga's clothes and sword.'
'Try and defeat me again,' Melcorka stepped back. 'Fight me.'
The rakshasa lifted its sword and advanced, with Kulothunga's smile on its face and Kulothunga's sword in its hand. Melcorka parried its swing, felt it twist its sword in an attempt to disarm her and thrust suddenly forward. As the rakshasa pulled back, Melcorka swung Defender, only to find Kulothunga had parried in turn.
'I am the best there has ever been,' the rakshasa that looked like Kulothunga said.
'You are good.' Melcorka advanced again, using her figure-of-eight attack.
When the rakshasa tried to push aside Defender, Melcorka parried, pressing on, knowing that she was stronger and fitter than she had been during their previous bouts. 'Is that your best, Kulothunga? I thought you were good.'
The words stung Kulothunga, as Melcorka had intended. He locked his blade with Defender and held Melcorka, muscle for muscle, with his eyes staring into hers.
'You cannot defeat me, Melcorka.'
Melcorka felt herself pushed backward. Defender slipped in her grasp. 'You are strong,' she said.
'I am,' Kulothunga agreed.
Melcorka tried to twist Defender to disarm Kulothunga. He shifted with her twist, countering her move.
'You are very good,' Melcorka gasped, giving ground. 'I think you are better than me.'
Kulothunga laughed. 'I am the best,' he said.
'You are my master with the sword.' Melcorka slipped and fell to the ground, with Kulothunga standing proud over her. 'I cannot fight any more.' She heard Bradan's shout of despair.
Kulothunga loomed over her, preening his moustache. As he did so, Melcorka rolled to the side and thrust upward into Kulothunga's groin.
Kulothunga stared at her with his face contorted in agony.
'Die, you thing!' Melcorka shoved Defender further up, twisting to enlarge the wound. Kulothunga gasped, dropped his sword and stood rigid above her as his blood flowed up the blade of Melcorka's sword.
Kosala stared, open-mouthed. 'You defeated Kulothunga!'
'The creature was good,' Melcorka said, 'but I knew its weakness. It combined the vanity of Kulothunga with the vanity of the rakshasas.'
'I hope you got the right man,' Bradan said, as Melcorka tore Defender free and the rakshasa crumpled to the ground. 'That looked and sounded very like Kulothunga to me.'
'I hope so, too,' Melcorka said. 'Trust nobody. 'Here they come now.'
Four; there are four rakshasas; the copies of Bhim, Kulothunga and Dhraji as well as the Mysterious One. How can I defeat four of them?
There was no more pretence. The rakshasa that was in the image of Bhim altered into a leopard. It sprang at Bradan, with its claws extended and its jaw wide open.
'I wondered what you were, Bhim,' Melcorka said. 'I never saw Dhraji without her leopard unless Bhim was there. What a strange creature you are.' She swung Defender, swearing when the blade bounced off the body of the leopard. Only the force of the blow pushed the leopard back.
'No mortal blade can kill us!' The words resounded inside Melcorka's head as the other rakshasas altered into their multi-legged shapes and ran forward, tentacles grabbing and beaks snapping. Three of them now, as the creature that had copied Kulothunga assumed its other form.
'Get behind me, Bradan! You're no warrior!' Melcorka stepped forward, Defender held ready. As the first rakshasa curled its tentacles around her, she slashed with Defender, sliced off two tentacles and thrust for the eyes. Once again, Defender bounced off the pupil without inflicting any damage.
'I can't be killed by any mortal weapon.' The words eased into Melcorka's mind again.
'I'll chop you up, piece by piece,' Melcorka said, slashing sideways. 'And this time you have no sea to escape into.'
The three multi-legged rakshasas were attacking her; one had its tentacles wrapped around her legs, holding her while the others slithered up with their beaks poised to strike. Looking in the mirrors, Melcorka could see a hundred rakshasas surrounding her. She slashed at one, to realise that it was only a mirror image as Defender hissed through empty air.
'Is that why you put the mirrors there?' Melcorka asked. 'That's how you work, isn't it? First, you remove hope by spreading depression in people's minds, and then you spread confusion, so they don't know fact from fiction.'
Melcorka saw Kosala fighting the leopard, hacking at its limbs and avoiding the slashing claws. Then the leopard altered, growing more legs as it copied its fellow rakshasas.
'You will die slowly, Melcorka,' the voice sounded in her head, laughing, mocking, seeking to unsettle her. 'Very slowly. You will suffer for weeks
while I kill Bradan as you watch.'
'The Chola army will reduce your city,' Melcorka said. 'Rajaraja will break down your walls and scatter your army!'
That laugh sounded again. 'You still don't realise, Melcorka, do you? You are still the naïve little island girl from the far west. I don't care about these little pirates or this city. They are tools.' The voice was deep and cold and utterly uncaring. 'They call me the Mysterious One, for they do not understand anything I do. My fight is far beyond anything you can ever imagine, with your little sliver of steel and your wandering man with his piece of stick.'
'Who are you?' Melcorka freed her legs with a back-handed slash of Defender. 'What are you?'
'For every force, there is a counterforce,' the voice said, 'and this world is a stage for the battle of the two. We are the game masters; kings and rajas and emperors are only pawns in our game.'
'Good and evil.' Melcorka stepped back. She saw Kosala and Bradan standing back to back over the corpse of the false Kulothunga, desperately trying to fend off the Bhim rakshasa. There was a rising din in the background, the clash of steel on steel and the hoarse cries of fighting men. Rajaraja's army must have finally stormed the city and was engaged with the defenders.
Bradan swung his staff, saw it bounce from the rakshasa, and kicked out in frustration. Stumbling over the body of the false Kulothunga, he looked away, temporarily blinded as the dying sun reflected in the mirrors.
Is it that late already? Time goes fast when one is fighting.
Melcorka saw Bradan catch his foot in Kulothunga's jacket. She saw Bradan kicked the jacket free, and a small flask slipped from an inside pocket to roll on the ground.
'Sweet Lord in his heaven,' Melcorka said. 'Thank you, Kulothunga. Thank you, Mother! Thank you, Bradan.'
The water from the Ganges! Kulothunga tested Rajaraja's admirals and generals with water from the Holy River!
Melcorka raised her voice. 'Bradan! Kosala!'
Kosala looked over. 'I can't hurt it.' Frustration edged his voice. 'My sword just bounces off!'
'I know how to destroy them!' Melcorka shouted. 'Do you see that little flask beside Kulothunga?'
Melcorka Of Alba Page 30