"I just want my son," Sugriva said.
The lake laughed with splashing, as if the fish all jumped in mirthful unison. Then it spoke, as she sunk below the surface. "You will not live to see the moon tonight. You slaughtered all my children, but if all I get is your seed, their sacrifice was worth it."
"Did I have a son?"
"I only give birth to boys. I control my children as I do this lake."
The water swelled, reaching toward him. He realized soon the water didn’t just swell, but it formed a wall to crash down on him. He supposed he was going to get that final cure everyone told him about. "Can you make it quick?"
"No. I will drown you for days, until I'm bored of watching the life leave your eyes. Until I bore of you begging me to end your miserable existence."
The water lifted him up and filled his lungs. The world went purple as he struggled for breath. Then it was dark. Shortly after, the world came back into view as water was violently expelled from his lungs, water pushing on his chest to force him to breathe, the force cracking ribs.
After the first hour, time blurred, and Sugriva lost any control of his body. The water washed away the fear of death. After several lost days, Pankatav tired of killing Sugriva. She placed him on an island in the middle of Lake Dyashka and had hippos circle it. Shortly after the sun came up the next day, Sugriva regained his wits, though his body was weak from the abuse. The hippos snoozed, though one kept an eye on the captive.
"I can't barter with you, can I?" The hippo looked unimpressed. Then Sugriva shifted into a monkey.
The hippo thrashed in the water and whined, alerting the others. They came to the island, searching it, though Sugriva was right there in his monkey form.
Sugriva slipped into the water and swam for the closest shore, not too far from the shack. He hid in the bushes as his monkey self. Pankatav came out shortly after, wailing, "What are you doing? You fools! You brutes! How did he get off the island?" Sugriva assumed they could not answer her, as she went looking for him. She put a foot in the water first, likely checking if he died or was still swimming.
With the woman's eyes closed, and Sugriva nowhere near water, he slunk around the back of the shack and entered. He took the boy and his staff. The child cried, and Pankatav heard it. "You will not escape," she screamed. However, monkey had no need to defeat the woman. He left with haste, off to the tribe.
That night, Sugriva left the boy at the doorstep of a large house with a letter. "My father was a warrior. My mother was a water spirit. Please raise me as your own. My mother is dead, and my father couldn't."
Chapter Nineteen
Three Men and a Campfire
Age of Finality
Divyan's eyes were wide. For a long time after Sugriva finished the story, the only response was the crackle of the fire. Then Divyan said, "You had a son?"
"Have, I hope. He's either in Bahimatt or dead. The demons did a good job subjugating the jungle, and a water janaav would be a threat when he got older."
"We can look for him when we return to the city." Resolve hardened Divyan's features.
"I abandoned him twice. He is with better caretakers than me." He thought of his son, the features of the boy as he grew up to a toddler, and it made Sugriva cry. He calmed himself and threw the thoughts aside, doing his best to harden his heart.
Tears dripped down Divyan's cheeks. "You fool. I would give anything to be with Amu again."
"Amu wasn't conceived with a witch who cursed your groin with fire."
"Do you know what happened to Pankatav?"
"Yes."
Divyan continued, when it was apparent Sugriva didn't feel like elaborating. "She was a great evil. It was your duty to kill her." The hawk man scowled.
"I was already outcaste. I had no duty."
A long silence was broken by Dameneh's snoring. Both men chuckled.
Divyan asked, "How many fake Ashtadash did you meet?"
"Dozens. Every spirit who was a king in some tiny village claimed to be one. Why not? If they're old enough they have the power of gods coursing through their veins. They can bring fertility or draught. Earthquakes that swallow hundreds. Most were kind. I probably killed a dozen and a half."
"What about when you found the Ashtadash?"
Chapter Twenty
Fire Snatches the Monkey's Tail
Age of Men 815
After wandering for three years, Sugriva could barely see straight from the strain of travel. Smoke turned black in his veins and blurred his vision. He shambled into the wealthy city-state of Kanpir, a blasphemous people for shirking dharma, though far enough away from Jaya that the self-righteous empire wouldn't attack.
The buildings were hewn stone. Coins jingled in nearly every pocket. A few boys and girls scattered across the dirt street, hands out pleading for kindness, a heavy contrast to the otherwise wealthy city.
The weight of darkness was heavy on Sugriva's shoulders, and it was exhausting even to stand. The street would make a fine grave, so he laid down. Rats sniffed at him, hungry for fresh meat, but they fled from the corruptions.
Then there was a tap on Sugriva's shoulder.
A little girl, no older than eight, tapped his shoulder again. "You dead, sir? Don't look good. Might not make it the night if you don't keep going."
Sugriva squinted at her. "Go away. If I don't die, I'll turn into a demon and eat your kidneys."
"Adults always use demons to scare kids," she clucked and shook her head. "You aren't from here. Walked here to die? Doubt it." She found a stick and started poking up Sugriva's nose.
He swatted at the stick. "Thrice cursed urchin. Knock it off." The girl only laughed and kept poking him. "Fine, child. Fine. I'm here to see the Ashtadash. But I can’t walk anymore. Now get."
"No, sir, how 'bout instead you get me food?"
She is food, the voice nudged. No one will miss such a scrawny thing. And she might not be filling, but she is a meal.
Sugriva sat up and glared at the kid. "You want me to what?"
"Get me food, sir. Please?" Her eyes were wide, the wide that says she lies to a hundred people a day.
"No." He laid back down in the refuse.
"Please?"
Sugriva stood up and growled, "If it'll shut you up."
The girl's eyes lit up, and Sugriva did his best to stifle a smile.
The market had plenty of food, much of which would go to waste. He scampered around, knowing that the girl wouldn't be picky. Shifting into a monkey, he picked up a few pieces of fruit, some root vegetables, and a scrap of hard bread, then went back to the gutter.
"Knew I pegged someone good." She devoured the food and curled up with Sugriva. The small, warm body soothed him to sleep.
THE FOLLOWING MORNING, when Sugriva woke to the summer heat, the girl was gone. "Urchin," he muttered, chest aching. He sat up and looked down the alley.
The sounds of the city surrounded him. People walking, kids playing, and boisterous salesmen shouting. It was home. He grinned, even if he was stuck in a gutter. At least it was civilization.
He found a place with relatively few beggars and sat down lotus style. He put his head down and hands up. "Alms for the poor. Insight for the spiritually blind. I look for food, money, and direction to the Ashtadash."
This he did all day, and he received some food, some money, and some fruitless information. He stored away the food and used the money to buy a little more in case the girl came back. He hoped the girl would return.
That evening, with the sun low and the lanterns lit by fire spirits, the girl appeared.
"You didn't ditch,” she said. “Thought you would." She sat next to him and patted her lap. "Got any food?"
Can we eat her today? But the voice lacked strength.
Sugriva displayed bread and rice to the girl. "Plenty today. Begging went well, though my search for the Ashtadash was useless."
Food fell from her mouth as she talked. "How much you have?"
The monkey
was put off a bit. "What do you mean?"
She snapped her fingers, and a dozen orphans came around the corner into the alley. "See, told my friends bout you. Here they are." She went through their names, while Sugriva scowled.
We could eat them all.
"Can you feed us?"
"I'll be back." He continued to scowl, but helping the orphans would be his last act of charity before moving on.
Vendors closed up their stalls. Half the food was discounted, and the other half was free. The children feasted until most of them were full.
The girl snuggled into Sugriva. "You've nothing, but give us all. Why?"
He wrapped his arm around her and closed his eyes. The healing of her youth and innocence soothed the darkness coursing through him. "Corruption eats away at me, and I'll die soon. Why not help before I die?"
BLACK SMOKE WITH CRIMSON lightning snaked out from Sugriva and wrapped around the children. They're fresh. No one will miss orphans. The tendrils went up into the sky and blackened out the dawn sun. The girl was not there.
Sugriva's thighs fought against him, burning as he stood. Shoulders ached and stiffened. One boy looked up and saw Sugriva. His face contorted, mortified. "What are you?"
Perhaps the black wasn't a hallucination. His veins, smoky exhales, and pitch nails likely gave him away, too. Sugriva sprinted off, shifting into a monkey. People gasped wherever he went, and spirits and guards came after him, shouting.
It is done. You are finished. He could hear the grin, but he knew the voice was right. Within moments he would be a demon.
Winds controlled by elementalists ripped at his fur, though he didn't feel the pain as hair was ripped out in clumps. Under the bald spots, his skin looked like charcoal.
He got lost in a crowd in one of the city centers and made his way between legs, unnoticed by the distracted crowd. When the legs of the crowd broke, and he could see, there was a beautiful woman. She had red skin, like a ruby at night. Her hair was white and blue, the colors moving through the long tresses which reached for the sky like a flame. A man came up to her covered in boils.
Her finger neared his flesh and a spark jumped from her finger tip to the man. A burn appeared where the spark touched, and the man spasmed as the boils began to recede. Heat made him perspire, and his flesh turned red. By the time the final boil was removed, the man was limp.
The woman wept. "I am sorry. He was beyond my healing."
Guards took the family away as they mourned, and the body turned to ash as the heat ate him from the inside.
Another person was brought to her, his leg swollen from a snake bite. She touched the leg with the spark. His body reacted the same as the man before, but when the purple swelling went down, his skin turned white. Trembling, he got to his legs, bowed, and walked away. This continued for several more people.
Kill her, he heard in his head. Gut her, cut her open and run.
“You don’t want to eat this one?” Sugriva quipped.
The voice repeated, Kill her, over and over, taking control of the monkey. Sugriva grasped his head, swaying back and forth toward the woman, as his mind tried bursting through his skull. He would turn in a few moments.
He howled, dropping at her feet. "Release it. Release me. Burn me away, please." He looked up at her, black sludge weeping down from his dark eyes.
Fingers gently touched under his chin, making him look up. His heart nearly burst when his eyes met the woman's. She didn't flinch at his horrific visage. Then a bowl of water was brought to her, and she placed it on Sugriva's lips, tipping it down his throat. He swallowed through instinct, though the voice cried out, Don't drink it. Kill her.
A weight was released from Sugriva when he drank, and the voice became distant, though still there and nagging for blood.
"How?" Sugriva reached up to her, and she took his hand, pulling him to his feet.
"I am an Ashtadash.”
"WHAT IS YOUR NAME?" He could feel his skin smoldering, but at least he didn't feel the voice.
"Ishva, daughter of fire." She did not break stride, and it seemed she hastened with every step. The people grumbled when they saw the pair. "I am an Ashtadash, one of the few. There are more, though not here."
"I've met a few, I think. One on an ox, and another an old ascetic in the mountains. Can't you make more?"
"If all your generals were killed, would you pull more leaders from your farmers?"
"I understand."
It took all day, and into the night, before they reached ruins. Ishva used the fire of her body and hair to light the way. The fire gave off some heat, as Sugriva could feel it, but it did not ignite foliage, which Sugriva was grateful for.
"This is Ramaswam, an ancient city where spirits used to live freely, and the Ashtadash ruled with wisdom. Sure there were kings, and the Ashtadash didn't truly rule beyond the boundaries of Ramaswam, but they were consulted constantly, travelingtravelling to kingdoms to guide through times of difficulty. We only refused to get involved in wars between two righteous kingdoms, as we are not mercenaries."
The splendor and prestige of the city was lost centuries ago. Roofs appeared as mounds, showing dirt buried the buildings long ago. They were the only hint as to how large the city once was. In the center there was a large temple which reached out of the earth as best it could. There were signs of digging, showing that the temple was routinely cleared. The temple was off to the east of a courtyard. Spires reached to the sky from the four corners and the center of the temple, the tops looking like buds of stone. A walkway went off to the south into a building the earth swallowed.
A cauldron sat between the temple and a stone-lined pond to the west. Green moss tinged the color of the stone. Broken pillars surrounded the courtyard and pond, some of them still showing the carvings of different spirits.
A pressure set on Sugriva's chest and the voice increased. Flee. This is a bad place. We can thrive out in the jungle. Do not go here.
The desperation was a good sign.
"When do you heal me?" he asked.
"When you are ready. There is a lot we need to do, but we can at least keep the corruption from spreading."
"What is the healing? I need it now."
"I heal through fire. If you aren't immune you’ll burn to a crisp. If I wanted you dead, I would have cooked you in Kanpir as an example to any who deal with demons."
Any other words seemed dangerous, so Sugriva kept to himself.
They walked up the temple steps, and inside there were countless beautiful carvings. The paintings were kept fresh, so either Ishva or her companions were proficient in the arts. He supposed they did have centuries to perfect those skills. Several shrines revealed different spirits, each one with small trinkets as homage. Then they reached a shrine that had nothing on it but a painting.
Ishva.
There were two others which had no tribute, and Sugriva assumed those would be the other two Ashtadash: water and earth. Water was fortuitous, since it meant they had an actual healer. Sugriva never saw healing by fire before, and from what he saw in the city square, he assumed it was painful.
A clay statue in the shape of a woman gazed down another hallway. Clay was unusual for large sculptures, especially those that were the size of people. It was also very smooth. Her form was naked, though she lacked details. Her eyes were two sapphire orbs boring into Sugriva. Strange to put the jewel in before finishing the sculpture. Then he went up to her and touched her. She jumped, and Sugriva shifted into a monkey and fled into a nearby room.
The woman's voice was thick and deep. "It's inappropriate to touch people when they don't give you permission," she shouted. "Why is a janaav—Ishva, why is there a janaav here? By Paanee." She sighed, then went into the room where Sugriva fled.
"Are you coming out? If I have to come get you, I will make you pay for it two fold. Touching my divine form and obstructing my morning?" She tittered.
Sugriva shifted into a man, and the earth woman gasped. "Oh, that i
s not a good look." She shouted again, "Ishva, are we killing this one?" Her left hand shifted into a giant mallet.
Ishva darted into the room. "No killing, sister. This is Sugriva. If we can't heal him, the fire will deal with him."
The sapphires grew wider. "Exciting. It's been a while." She grinned like a child, and her left arm shifted back into a hand so she could clap. "Sugriva, did you see her heal?" He nodded, swallowing hard. "Fantastic. Then you know it'll hurt."
Ishva glared at her sister. "Sugriva, this is Taro Taro. She is enthusiastic."
"About killing demons," she chimed in, sing song. "We love hunting. I think that's where Wazi is."
"Are there a lot?" His brow fell. "Were there always a lot?"
"Yes," Ishva said. "Not like there are now. They prepare for war, and we will help stall that war as long as possible."
Sugriva looked to the dirty ground and brushed his toe back and forth, creating a rut in the grime. "Will they attack Jaya?"
There was a long silence, then Ishva said, "Ravasha will. If he topples Jaya, the rest of Sankive falls with it. Though, he’s not the only demon lord. Not even the most powerful. Just the most ambitious."
The name struck Sugriva like a bolt of lightning through the chest. He staggered backward and took a knee. "I know him. He killed all my friends. He slaughtered villages and used the Fangs as cover for his acts."
Taro Taro said, "He loved those serpents, and we couldn't figure out why. Wait—" Her eyes went wide, and she squealed. "You're the Feral Monkey, aren't you? You're the one who went ape—or monkey, whatever—on them?" She fervently hugged him. The monkey blushed, as her body was soft like a woman's.
"Saw some of your kills. They were magnificent. You are magnificent. If you ever want to have a baby with a spirit, let me know, because I'm open to the idea."
The thought of Pankatav twisted his insides. He thought of his son and how the boy was doing after a few months.
Taro backed up. "Sore spot. No spirit babies? No babies?"
Ghost Monkey Page 16