The Beast Inside

by Monique Singleton

  Ok, now he had my attention, I was curious. His response reminded me of the first meeting with Ca. Only his reaction was not one of reverence, but of abject terror. What did this man know about me?

  He composed himself just in time. Bharata looked up when he failed to get a reaction to a question he had posed.

  ‘Neerav?’ He asked. ‘Are you not listening?’

  The advisor immediately bowed his head and apologised. ‘My liege, please forgive me, I have been unwell the past days.’ He looked it.

  ‘What ails you, my old friend?’ The Emperor even looked concerned. I guess these men had more of a relationship than I had expected. ‘Please sit.’

  ‘Thank you, Samrat Bharata. My old bones ache with the nearing monsoon.’ He sat on the chair, the emperor joined him in the seat next to him.

  They continued discussing the spiritual journey that Bharata was about to undertake in preparation of his accession to a holy state. Neerav stole quick glances my way when the emperor wasn’t looking. He was still somewhat pale, though he managed to regain some of his composure.

  I studied him. He wasn’t Indian or Pakistani. I think more from the Nepalese-Tibetan region, his features were more Asian than Indian. I guessed he was somewhere in his seventies. Frail and gaunt. His head was shaven with the exception of a long grey beard, and his garments were less ostentatious than those of all the others I had seen here. I guess that was in lieu of his occupation. He was a holy man, a Sadhu. Though he didn’t fit the mould precisely. He was I suppose, more the materialistic type of Sadhu.

  The emperor stood and walked over to my cage.

  ‘Isn’t she breath-taking?’ he asked Neerav. ‘Such a wonderful creature.’

  Reluctantly Neerav stood and joined him. The terror returned, though he tried to keep it under restraint. ‘She is, my liege’ he answered. After a minute of silence, he dared to ask ‘where did she come from?

  ‘She is a spy.’ the emperor replied smiling. ‘The chutia British king sent her to spy on me. Can you imagine? And now she will be my next conquest. A new addition to my harem.’ He laughed. ‘I will enjoy her even more, knowing that it is an insult to her principals.’

  Silence again.

  ‘Samrat.’ Neerav began carefully. ‘You cannot keep this woman here.’ He had balls, I’ll give you that. Or he was counting on the relationship they had. The emperor was curious.

  ‘Why not, old friend?’

  ‘She is dangerous.’

  ‘Well she is a spy.’

  ‘No Lord. Not as a spy.’

  Bharata was intrigued. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Are you familiar with the legend of the holy man of Darchuta?’ Neerav continued.

  ‘It is a myth.’ The younger man answered. ‘Meant to frighten children. The Holy man, the woman and the monster. My mother told us the tale one stormy night. I laughed, even then. My sisters were terrified.’

  ‘As well they should be.’ Neerav was not to be dissuaded from his opinion. ‘There is more to the tale than mere myth, Sire. There is truth to the tale.’

  ‘Truth? In what?’

  ‘The woman and the monster. They are true, they are the guardians of the people.’

  ‘Now you are letting the fever talk my old friend. There is no such thing as a monster. The tale is nothing more than an old fable.’

  ‘No please, it is true.’ He pointed to me. ‘She is the woman of the legend. The woman with the ochre eyes.’

  He was almost imploring the emperor now. ‘You must let her go, have her taken out of the country. Somewhere far away, so that she cannot come back.’

  Bharata was losing his patience. ‘Don’t be ridiculous. She is not going anywhere. Anywhere, other than my bed. I do not believe in old-wives tales. And frankly I am surprised and somewhat concerned that you do.’ Neerav flinched. ‘Are you losing your sanity?’ The emperor raised his voice slightly. ‘Do I need to replace you with another Sadhu? There are many who aspire to your position.’

  There was no convincing this man, so Neerav probably decided to let it go for now. He looked like he might try again at a later date.

  ‘Please forgive me, I forget myself.’ He bowed profusely.

  The emperor softened. ‘I will let it pass, old friend. I know that you have my best interest in mind. But this time you are wrong. There is nothing sinister about this beautiful creature. Nothing more than the way her beauty mesmerises me.’

  Moving away from me, they returned to the seats. After a few minutes of small talk, Neerav took his leave and, with a last glance my way, left the room. A bodyguard entered the room and took up his position next to the door.

  Now there was only the emperor and the bodyguard in the room, besides me that is.

  I had to act quickly. The Sadhu knew a lot about me. Too much. He knew to fear me. It was even possible that he knew that the cat and I were one. That he knew of my talents. I couldn’t risk him convincing the emperor or others that I was who he thought. That I was the woman of the legend. Once again, the legend was popping up in a place and at a moment that I least expected it to. That meant that I would need to rethink what I would do here.

  Sure, I would kill the emperor. That was a given. But now I needed to find out more from the Sadhu. I had planned on leaving the palace immediately after killing Bharata. Now I would need to take the holy man with me. This was a complication that didn’t sit well with me. But I could see no alternatives. Neerav knew more about me than Ca had.

  I needed to know.

  But how to reach both goals?

  If I killed the Emperor and then set off in search of Neerav, chances were that I wouldn’t find him. What I had seen of the palace was that it was an extensive set of buildings. More like a maze. How would I find the Sadhu in all that? And especially when all hell broke loose because of the assassination.

  I would have to wait until the Sadhu returned and they were alone again.

  In the meantime, I just hoped that no one else would believe the legends.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  It took another two days before the Sadhu came back and was alone with emperor Bharata.

  Jess was back in the cage. Bharat still hadn’t made any advances on her.

  Naturally she was unimpressed.

  She was however getting fed up with the cage and the pompous emperor. Her tolerance for arrogant bastards was low to start with, and here it was stretched to the limit. She needed to remind herself to wait. To act complacent. As the men here would expect.

  The Primal urges were surfacing too. Spurred on by her impatience, she was rapidly reaching the boiling point. Something had to happen. Soon.

  The Sadhu entered the room. Bharata was sitting behind his massive desk. There was no one else in the room, Bharata had sent the body guards out into the hallway, fully comfortable that Jess could not be a threat in the cage. He greeted the Sadhu enthusiastically,

  ‘My old friend’ he stood and walked to the front of the desk to embrace the holy man. ‘You look tired. Have you not been able to recuperate after your travels?’

  ‘I am old Samrat. The trip has taken much from me.’

  Bharata led him to the sofas and indicated that he sit in the plush pillows. Thankfully the old man relaxed on the embroidered silk cushions. He stole a glance at the cage and the woman inside, becoming a bit rattled that she was in turn observing him. Bharata noticed.

  ‘She still unnerves you?’ he asked.

  ‘She does Samrat.’ The old man admitted.

  Walking back to the desk, Bharata picked up an ancient looking book and walked back to the sofa.

  ‘I have been doing some research of my own’ he said. ‘There are many myths about this woman with the ochre eyes. Most of them are vague and bleary. They are definitely fantasy. Nowhere could I find any specific reference to either the woman or her companion, as this book calls it, other than the ochre eyes.’ He brandished the book.

  From the cage, Jess watched the proceedings. The book intere
sted her. She would have to get hold of it before she left the palace.

  He continued. ‘I do not believe in the myth.’

  ‘Samrat.’ the Sadhu tried. ‘The legends are many, not just those in the Veda.’ He pointed to the book in the emperor’s hand. ‘Many tales come from outside of the Hindu scriptures. In other religions, even. The tale of the woman and her companion are widely spread over the whole eastern continent. And even further than that. There is truth to the legend. I implore you to take their warnings seriously.’

  ‘You are seriously delusional my old friend.’ Bharat stayed patient. ‘There is nothing to the myths. Nothing.’

  Then he added something that truly surprised both Jess and the Sadhu. ‘Besides, she is not the only person I know with ochre eyes.’

  ‘My lord?’ the Sadhu was astounded and looked even more unsettled.

  ‘You have been gone a long time, old friend. As you know I have started my offensive against the western world. In this, I have been assisted by a visionary. A man you may know from the disgusting western media: Aze Black. He is a figure in the international Jet Set. Though that is just a farce, only a means to an end. Secretly, he hates the western world and is undermining it. Together we formulated our plans.’

  The Sadhu was silent. Just when he thought it could not get worse, Bharata sprang yet another nightmare on him. Azazel had been here.

  Bharat was unaware of his spiritual advisor’s panic. ‘He also has ochre coloured eyes, though he usually wears coloured contact lenses’ he continued. ‘So, you see, her eyes are not as unique as you think.’

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  I was dumbstruck. There was someone else with my eye colour?

  The Sadhu was obviously taken aback as well. This new piece of information had rocked him, almost as much as when he saw me for the first time. His reaction fuelled my conclusion that in one way or other this Aze Black and I were connected. And that both of us posed a threat to the holy man.

  But how?

  And what was the connection?

  Obviously, the Sadhu knew more than Bharata about me and this new actor in our strange game. That was yet another reason why I would have to take him with me after I killed the emperor.

  The Sadhu was torn. He was lost in thought and missed what the emperor was saying. Mind you, I wasn’t paying any attention to Bharata either.

  ‘Old friend?’ Bharata asked.

  The Sadhu regained some of his composure. ‘Will he come again?’

  ‘Yes’ Bharata was intrigued with his holy man’s questions. ‘Why?’

  ‘When?’ The Sadhu was blunt and irreverent. Bharata let it pass.

  ‘Soon.’ He stood up and walked to the drink cabinet. Pouring himself a stiff drink he continued. ‘He is setting things up in Europe, so that we can take the next step in the offensive—the all-out introduction of Shiva. He will be here for the final decisions by the end of the week.’ Once again, the Sadhu flinched. This time Bharata noticed.

  The Sadhu finally raised his head. He looked at Bharata, then at me. I could see the internal turmoil. He was hopelessly trying to determine what he should do. The terror on his face was unsettling. Bharat saw it too.

  Standing up the Sadhu made his way to the cage. He looked me in the eye and whispered, ‘be ready.’

  I didn’t know what to make of this. What did he mean? What was he going to do?

  He turned around, looked at Bharata and then made his way to the emperor’s desk.

  ‘My lord’ he said. ‘The situation is much worse than I thought.’

  ‘What situation?’

  The Sadhu pointed to me, the cage and then to the plans that lay on the desk. ‘This’ he answered. ‘All this.’

  Bharata was flabbergasted. I could see that his surprise was the only thing that stopped him from acting on the discourtesy of his holy man. Though how long that would last was debatable, he was quickly losing his patience.

  ‘I warned you Samrat. Your obsession with this woman will be your downfall. Now I know it is inevitable that you must die.’

  ‘Are you threatening me, old man?’

  ‘No, I am telling you what will happen.’ He pointed to me again. ’The legend is true, the woman and the lion are the protectors of the people, all the people. They slay the tyrants. And now they will kill you.’

  Bharata laughed. ‘This place is a fortress. There is no way that anyone, or anything, especially a lion, could get through those doors without my guards knowing.’ He was so sure of himself. ’Nothing is coming in.’

  ‘No’ I said. That got his attention. ‘But nothing is getting out either.’ I looked at the Sadhu, I knew what his plan was. He had manoeuvred himself so that he was in reach of the remote control of the cage door. He flipped the switch and the lock on the door kicked open.

  ‘Do you really think I am scared of a woman half my size?’ Bharata was amused. ‘Where is her lion? How do you think it will come in here?’

  I left the cage, pulling off the sari and ripping the lehenga.

  ‘It is already here my lord.’ The Sadhu answered. He watched me intently, expecting what was about to happen. ‘The woman and the lion are one.’

  I changed.

  Launching myself at the astonished emperor I closed my jaws on his throat and ripped it out, effectively silencing him before he could cry out. The shock still registered on his features.

  I turned to the Sadhu.

  He stood silently next to the desk, his hand still on the switch that had freed me. He was trembling. He probably expected me to kill him too.

  I padded over to him and faced him, my bloodied muzzle only inches from his face. I took in his scent. There was something there. Under the terror, under the resignation, something that seemed vaguely familiar. But it eluded me. Another mystery.

  I wasn’t going to kill him. I needed him. He had answers. Answers that I craved.

  Slowly I changed back. The last remaining tatters of the silky material fell from my frame.

  He lowered his head out of reverence.’Anadi’ he mumbled.

  ‘What did you call me?’

  He raised his head. Looked me in the eye. ‘Anadi’ he repeated. ‘That is your name.’

  ‘How do you know me?

  ‘You are the reason my family exists.’ Another unexpected twist, only this one really threw me. I didn’t know what to say, what to think. Conflicting emotions raced through my body. I almost felt faint.

  I needed to let it rest now. There was no other option. The need to know was almost overwhelming, but we had to get out of here in a hurry. Someone would come in soon, and then the shit would really hit the fan.

  ‘We are leaving.’ I announced, taking control. ‘You are going with me, and later, you will answer my questions.’

  He nodded. Relieved that I wouldn’t kill him outright, but apprehensive about answering my questions.

  I looked around for something to wear. The clothes I had previously worn were ripped beyond repair by the change. Going out of the room naked would be just about as conspicuous as going out as the lion. And attracting attention was something to be avoided now. We needed to get some distance from here before anyone found Bharata.

  ‘My car is in the courtyard.’ He could read my mind?

  I found a simple long tunic and pants. Bharat used them for his religious visits to the shrine, no flamboyance was allowed there. They were much too big, but I was able to stop them from falling off my body using a silk cord as a belt. A large brown cape with a hood and a turban underneath completed the package. I tucked my hair under the turban and pulled the hood up to camouflage my face. I grabbed the Veda and stuffed it into a bag that I slung over my shoulder.

  Supporting the seemingly feeble Sadhu I opened the door and we manoeuvred past the guards.

  ‘I am unwell.’ The Sadhu explained to the guards. He added a warning. ‘The emperor wishes to be alone, he is busy. He doesn’t want to be disturbed.’ The guards nodded. They would definitely not
disturb their master.

  I was astounded that they didn’t question my presence. They should have known that no one else had been in the room. But they just let us go. I guess that was testimony to the power and trust that they had in the holy man. They couldn’t question him, not without disrespect.

  As quickly as possible, but keeping up our appearance of me supporting the ailing Sadhu, we made our way through the corridors of the palace to the courtyard, hoping against hope that no one would find Bharata yet. We made it to the car. The driver held open the right rear door for the Sadhu and I quickly moved to the other side and entered the dark recesses of the limo. Without a word, the driver sat behind the wheel, and on the Sadhu’s instruction drove the vehicle across the courtyard and out through the massive gilded archways. Picking up speed we left the palace behind.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  The driver brought them to the holy man’s house on the outskirts of the town. They had made good time in the almost forty-five minutes that had passed since they left the Taj Mahal. The area around the house was quiet. Whether that meant that they were still safe or not was yet to be seen. It was pushing it, but they needed to change cars—the limo would not be practical where they were going—and grab some clothes and supplies. They also needed to lose the driver.

  On the trip, the Sadhu had closed the partition between them and the driver so that they could speak relatively freely. Not that they said much. Just the bare necessities. He seemed to have regained some of his composure and suggested they make their way to the mountains and his family. After the reference he made to them earlier, Jess was more than curious and this seemed like a good place to start. He didn’t divulge any details of the exact location, but none were needed at this point.

  He dismissed the driver and they moved into the house. There, a servant greeted the Sadhu and was tasked to gather the necessary provisions. He pointed Jess in the direction of the garage where she found an old four-wheel drive SUV. It was reasonably inconspicuous, being a muted brown and dented in places. It did not look as though the travellers were important and it would blend in with all the other vehicles that Jess had seen on the way to the house.