The sun has set a while ago and yet the warmth of the day lingers.
It’s muggy and though the sea is all around us, the air is still. It’s waiting. Waiting, but for what?
The sweat trickles down my forehead and then I sense Jai start as if he’s seen something, and I look up and see it too.
The small white dome in the middle of the plateau. It’s a temple, small, almost a shrine. Built in the traditional style of the temple I’ve seen at the edge of the Jungle, and yet it’s different. The white of the building sparkles. It’s new, not more than a few years old. I know it’s a replica of the temple that must have been here before the tsunami swept it away.
But it’s not just that. In front of the temple are two figures.
Even from this distance I can tell that one of them is hurt for he leans on the shoulders of a slimmer man.
And a little distance from them, another man is looking at us. There’s no mistaking the cocky jaunt of his shoulders, his thrust out chest. His legs are spread apart and he stands with his arms folded. It’s the General. And he too is waiting for us.
I know it’s Vik who’s hurt and a wave of anger washes over me. As we get closer, I sense something more from him. A wave of raw emotion reaches out to me, twisting my heart, making my throat close. I try to swallow down the despair, helplessness, the hope that vibrates off Vik. He’s recognized Maya. He knows she’s his long-lost daughter. And he wants to go to her and take her in his arms. And he can’t. He won’t.
The shifters motion us to a stop while Maya and Luke move forward. Maya has the sword sheathed by her side. She has no other weapon. No gun.
Reaching the General, she holds out the sword to him. But before she can say anything else Vik cries out as if he can’t stop himself any more. Can’t hold himself back. He moves towards her, only to be stopped by Vishal, who grabs him and pulls him back.
Next to me, Jai’s, muscles bunch together and I know he’s going to do something that will put his life at risk. But even I couldn’t have predicted what happened next.
Chapter Fifty
He’s hurt. His father is hurt. Bleeding from a cut to the head. And it’s clear he’s suffered a few blows to the side from the way he’s favoring his ribs.
Vik leans on Gilbert, who looks at Jai and gives a slight shake of his head. Warning him not to make any unnecessary moves. Warning him that Vishal still had a few surprises in store.
But when Vik cries out on seeing the sword in her hand, in his daughter’s hand, Jai knows it’s because at that moment Maya looks so much like Ruby. The girl he’d loved, the woman he’d never forgotten. And now she’s standing in front of him. And once more it’s the time of the tetrad. He looks up and sees the full moon hanging there, ominous. Glowing in anticipation. Waiting.
The son watches Vik, sensing what his father is going through.
But the soldier in him surveys the land, sees the wolves gathered around the temple. Their numbers swell till the entire plateau is filled with them.
And still they’re calm, quiet, alert, their noses sniffing the air as a faint smell of electricity, of copper wafts towards them. There’s a storm brewing. And Jai’s not sure he can stop it.
Then Vik breaks free of Vishal, or perhaps Vishal lets him go. He limps towards Maya, favoring his leg, but with a straight posture. Regal. Every inch the solider he’s always been. The Guardian of this city.
Just like Jai.
And perhaps like Jai’s children after him.
And Jai knows then that this is him. This is what he was born to do. He’s been running away from it all his life. But now, with the hand of the woman he loves clasping his palm, surrounded by the remnants of his family, overlooking the city of his birth, the city his mother had died protecting, the city his father had spent his life cherishing, it’s so clear to him. He knows what he has to do then.
His mind made up, he squeezes Aria’s hand. When he gets her attention, he jerks his head to Gilbert, who’s watching them closely, before looking to where Vik has come to a stop in front of Maya.
Aria nods and after one final squeeze he lets go of her before focusing all his attention on Maya, who shakes off Vik’s hand.
"You’d do this? Destroy the city of your birth? The city your family has spent their life building?" Vik asks.
She laughs at that, a short bark. "So now I am your daughter?"
Vik’s eyebrows furrow. "You were always my daughter," he says.
"You didn’t recognize me when we met."
Jai shoots a glance at Vik. So they’ve met too? Was it the one time Maya had forayed into the city? When she’d stayed for a few weeks to try to find her family? The time that Jai had met her too?
Vik frowns, his features twisting as he tries to remember. "I would have recognized you anywhere," he insists.
But Maya is already shaking her head. "You didn’t, then. For I’m not like you. And this is not home. This city where you keep out those who need your help the most… No it can’t be where I belong."
"You belong with your own blood," Vik says, his voice firm, strong. As if he’s hoping to run down her objections by sheer will power.
"I belong with my adopted family," she shoots right back, glancing at Luke and the wolves behind him. They stand silent, grounded. Watching them closely in a way that indicates they can’t quite understand what these humans are fighting over. That in their world things are straightforward. For them, the extended pack, family is everything. And now that Maya is one of their own, that embrace extends to her.
And the bald way that Maya states her intent, the sheer resolve that comes through, shows that Vik has perhaps met his match.
For Maya is just like Vik, far more than Jai will ever be. That once her mind is made up, there’s no changing it. And it’s ironic that it’s precisely that which leaves Jai with no choice but to do what he must.
"You look just like your mother," Vik says, still trying to appeal to her. "But you have a choice. Don’t repeat Ruby’s mistakes."
"You’re right," she snorts, tossing her head. "It’s my choice. And as you say, this is Ruby’s sword. And I’m her daughter. So it’s mine by rights, isn’t it?"
She moves to brush past him when Vik stops her with a hand to her shoulder. "Why? Why do this?" he asks, his voice shaking with the bitter knowledge of what is to come.
At which Vishal steps forward, flanking Maya on the other side.
"It’s simple, bro," he says. "Maya here has the ability – other than Jai of course – to trigger the tsunami tonight, at the time of the blood-red moon."
"You’d turn Ruby’s daughter against everything she died for?"
Jai winces on hearing that.
"I’ll do what it takes," Vishal says and that is the final straw.
Jai has always known that the day would come when Vik’s iron resolve would snap. He has always wondered what it would take to push him over the edge. And that when it happened, he wouldn’t want to be at the receiving end. That perhaps it wouldn’t even happen in this lifetime. But Vik’s next actions prove him wrong.
With a speed that makes it seem as if he’s moving almost as fast as the shifters, Vik springs at Vishal, lashing out with his fist, getting the other man with a sharp crack to his jaw. He’s sent reeling to the ground.
Before Vishal can recover, before anyone else can react, Vik is on him again, dragging him up by the collar, his amber eyes blazing as if the fire within them could consume Vishal at any moment.
And in them Jai sees a sudden flash forward to the future, to twenty years later, when he’s laying low the man who has led his own daughter astray. And then that moment too is gone, leaving a gnawing hole in its place. As if the fates have shifted, and his destiny has already been charted. Unless… Unless he does something about it. Unless he steps up now and puts an end to this.
Jai clutches his fists at his side then.
Patience.
He needs to wait.
Wait.
Just like the wolve
s. Just like the shifters next to him, who have gone still; silent. Statues bound to the night, to whatever is going to come next. They seem to know what’s in store but Jai can only guess. And whatever it is, he cannot let it happen.
Next to him, Aria slides to the side, gently. One step. Another. Silent. Like a shadow. The shifters don’t even notice. Rapt as everyone is by the drama unfolding in front of them.
As Vik lets go of Vishal, he takes a step back and swings again. And again. Then there’s a slight pause, just a second to gather his strength, drawing on that inner force inside that is so Vik. And he lets loose a final punch. His movements are smooth, fast, power-packed, befitting the experienced combat soldier that he is. And it would have laid Vishal flat, should have knocked him out, except he recovers.
He sidesteps Vik, and when the other man slides by, Vishal grabs him around the neck, powerful arms squeezing his throat. Vik comes up short, is held captive.
It’s almost like watching a replay of them fighting as siblings. Now they’re grown men.
One fights for his family.
The other for power.
Vik struggles in Vishal’s mock embrace but Vishal holds on, locking him in, immobile. Biceps bulging, throat chords stretching.
"So you’ll destroy the city?" Vik’s voice wheezes out, cracking on the last word. "Use your own family to fulfill your ambition, regardless of the price the rest of us pay for it?"
"Not this city," Vishal laughs. "No, I’ve been training Maya to target the power of the sword towards the West."
"New London?" The words snap out of Jai before he can help it and he swears inwardly.
He hopes he hasn’t drawn attention to Aria, who has now reached the far right of the small gathering, diagonally opposite Gilbert.
Vishal nods without even looking his way, his eyes never wavering from the sword.
"Among others. If your very talented sister wills it right, she should be able to unleash nature’s force on most of the big cities of the West."
"But why?" Jai cries out.
"Economics," he says as if it should all be very clear to them. "Today, the supply of rare earth metals comes from the West. New Scotland and some reserves in Argentina, those are the last deposits left on this planet.
"But over the last few years I’ve been using the shifters to work the mines in the north of Indostan. We’ve reopened them and now have our own supply—’
"So you want to destroy the big cities of the West, destroy their last remaining resources of rare earth metal? Then when they are at your mercy, trade cheaply?" Jai asks, moving forward casually so he’s closer to his father. Closer to his sister. Closer to his uncle.
"So sending me to New London to do a deal with them was just an elaborate ruse?" Jai asks, his mind working quickly to piece everything together. To see the full picture.
To understand that he’s been taken in by this man, a person he trusted. And yet not. No, he’d never trusted Vishal. Not as a child and not now. And it’s a relief to have it all out in the open. To have Vishal finally reveal what’s on his mind.
"We wanted you to keep the rebels in New London occupied, make them think we needed them. But you did one better," Vishal laughs.
"I brought them with me. Aria and Mikhail." His voice lowers to a thread, thinking of the rebel leader.
Mikhail had not been a friend, but Jai had sensed the core of the other man. He had seen the traits in him similar to his own. Courage, loyalty, fearlessness. He had even taken care of Aria, that’s all that mattered. He’d seen how Mikhail had looked at Aria, that he’d been in love with Aria. And that had bothered him and brought out his fierce possessiveness. But beneath it all, he’d known that Mikhail had taken care of Aria and he’d been grateful for that.
It strikes him that the most dangerous of enemies are often from within your own family. Just as your closest friends too are of your own blood.
Then all of that goes out of his mind for Maya breaks away from the crowd. She strides to the temple, followed by Luke. Walking up the short flight of steps, she pauses on the raised platform, looking down at the rest of them. With the sword raised and the silver of the temple to her back, her golden eyes glowing, she looks magnificent.
Like a young goddess.
"Don’t forget your promise of a new city, a Bombay 2, for the shifters," she calls out to Vishal.
Before he can reply, she raises the sword to the gathered wolves. "They won’t let you forget it either." She grins.
At this the assembled wolves let up a howl. One which echoes into the night. It makes Jai’s hair stand on end, sending a chill of goosebumps flaring on his skin. And before the echoes subside, he’s moving. Running up the steps.
Behind him Luke takes aim with his gun. But Gilbert flings himself at the shifter, taking him down. He has a sword to his throat before Luke can react. At the same time Aria kicks Vishal in the side before leaping on to him, bringing him to the floor.
But Jai doesn’t see it, for he’s already in the inner chamber of the temple with his sister. At the same spot where his mother had stood less than thirty years ago.
And it’s quiet inside, hushed. As if none of the noise is allowed in. He stops, next to Maya, his eyes taking in what she’s already seen.
The small altar in the center. And rising from it green and violet sparks. As he watches they bubble up, as if from an invisible cauldron.
Then Aria steps forward and silver gold streaks of light jump up, growing in intensity, moving, shifting, forming patterns he cannot comprehend, before rising up towards the ceiling.
And all the while a sense of anticipation builds inside the space, weighing down on him. Memories from years ago. Emotions from another time, all being pushed out of a vortex he can't see. Loosened by the presence of this sword and this girl. They rain down on her as she walks to them; flowing through her, towards him, sinking into his skin. Charging up his blood so electricity flows through his veins, towards his heart, making it pump faster, shooting up his spine, up his neck, to burst over his crown. Violets and reds and flames of golden yellow that have him reeling with the sheer intensity of emotions.
Of unfulfilled passions from generations ago.
Of unrequited love, of the power of motherhood cruelly taken from her, cursed and unable to have children. She’d poured all of it into this sword, for the child she had lost. Catherine of Braganza, she’s right there in the room with him. So is Ruby. And they are pushing him on. Telling him he must do it now. Now. NOW.
Through the window he sees the wall of green rise in the distance. The waters from the sea boil up, white and blue.
Rising, rising to meet the horizon, flowing over that too.
The killer wave. Maya is calling to it. And when she touches her sword to touch the altar, he watches in fascination as it turns away from them, moving towards a distant spot. One he can’t see. But he knows where it’s headed – towards the other cities. The distant West. A frontier he cannot see, but which he knows is out there.
And now the ancestors don’t wait.
They call to him, tug at him, push him. A physical blow that has him stumbling forward. And when her eyes dart to him, he is the last thing she sees before he bends down, pulls the knife strapped to his ankle and throws it at her.
Chapter Fifty-One
I run in to see the knife arcing through the air, headed for Maya. In time to see it find its mark. My heart rams against my rib cage, the blood pulsing in my ear. I am not aware I have screamed aloud.
Embedded in her chest, the handle glints gold and silver, like her eyes. And as I watch, the light goes out of them. Her hand loosens on the sword, but Jai is already there to catch it. And then he catches Maya too as she sinks to the floor.
She’s splayed across his lap and he touches her face, wiping away the beads of sweat on her forehead. On his face anguish, remorse, but below it all a touch of fatality.
For he’d known there was no other way out.
He’d seen
the resolve on her face. He had known she was going to do it, exactly what her mother had done many years ago – touch the sword to the altar and trigger a tsunami. Except Ruby had done it without realizing the consequences of her action, whereas Maya had known exactly what she was about to do.
And she was going to use the power of the sword, the intent of his ancestors running through his veins, through her blood, the same intent that had run through their mother’s blood. She was going to use it all to quench the thirst of a power-hungry man. Help Vishal realize his ambitions.
And perhaps beneath it all she’d wanted to get back at Jai, at his parents.
She’d blamed them for never having found her after she had been taken by the shifters. But she was one of them now and she couldn’t turn her back on her own people. No more than he could turn his back on his city.
The shifters needed her; they had seen Maya as their savior – a human who’d help them find a home, a place where they could settle, a place for their forthcoming generations.
And as I see Jai hold his sister while her life ebbs away, as she clenches his hand and pulls him close to whisper in his ear, as he nods and kisses her forehead, I know he’s going to do all he can to make that future come true.
Vik runs into the little temple, jolting to a stop next to me. And I don’t need to see his face to sense his agony, to feel the silent cry wrung out of him.
I don’t hear him either, but it’s like he’s screamed out loud. His pain colors the air red with grief.
Vik sways and I grip him around his waist. He doesn’t notice, his eyes unable to grasp what he’s seeing.
I look at them, seeing things as they are. Through a father’s eyes.
His son is on the floor with the sword clutched in his hand. His wife’s sword. Ruby’s sword. And his daughter is held in her brother’s embrace.
And Jai still sits there. Frozen. Motionless. His features carved out of stone, except for the tears running down his cheeks, except for his fingers running through her hair. He’s still holding Maya’s hand, as if willing her to stay just a few seconds more. A lifetime longer.
Legends of the Damned: A Collection of Edgy Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance Novels Page 145