Nine: Vengeance of the Warrior (30 page)

44

Tara

‘Can’t you heal him?’ Tara asked Zubin. Raakin was in the back seat, looking pale and sickly. He was alive, but barely able to speak.

‘I tried earlier. He’s barely responding, mumbling something about the Chintamani.’

‘The Kalingan cannot get to the Chintamani, it is in a well-protected monastery,’ Tara said. ‘That’s what he’s trying to say.’

‘So now the only thing left to do is kill her and trap the Kalingan again.’ In the back seat, Akash punched the air. ‘Some powers that woman has! I should go back and complete the job.’

‘Complete the job?’ Tara felt a sense of dread.

‘I stabbed her,’ Akash said matter-of-factly. There was a tense silence, only the sound of the engine filled the air.

‘When?’ Tara asked, staring at him wide-eyed and shaking her head. The guy was such an immature idiot.

‘Soon after I pushed you away, I grabbed the antidote, picked up her dagger and plunged it into her stomach. Why are you looking at me like that, Tara?’

She gritted her teeth and held back the anger. ‘That’s crazy!’

‘Is she dead?’ Zubin asked, his feet still rammed on the accelerator. He slowed as they approached the highway, the road was busy with lorries and trucks.

‘I don’t think so. I didn’t check. Those crazy sorcerers were approaching, so I fled.’

‘She is alive,’ Tara said, eyes closed. ‘And even more enraged. She is going to do something really nasty and it’s going to cost us big time,’ Tara said through pursed lips. ‘You should have just left her and we would have planned how to get her to a location to trap her soul forever. Akash, you didn’t think of the consequences! You should have connected with me first.’

‘Well, that’s a fancy attitude! Instead of thanking me for saving your life, you want to judge and criticize. You are the one with a problem, Tara, not me.’

‘I didn’t tell you to go stab her. After what just happened, she is going to make people suffer. This time the Kalingan is not just after the Chintamani,’ Tara snapped.

‘Guys!’ Zubin interrupted. ‘Cool it, okay? We will figure something out. The first priority is to save Raakin.’

Tara didn’t like the way Akash looked at her. She felt a twinge of guilt—he had saved her life, after all.

‘I can go back and finish it off once and for all,’ Akash said. ‘Kill her and deal with the soul later.’

‘No, Akash, that is the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard!’ Tara couldn’t control her anger. ‘You think the Kalingan will not find a host and carry out his plan the second he leaves her body? He will enter another body. Then things will get even worse! Why don’t you listen to me when I explain things to you?’ she said, raising her voice.

Akash leaned back, looking at her with a hurt expression. ‘Do me a favour and don’t talk to me like you’re my mother. In fact, better still, don’t talk to me at all.’

Tara sighed, feeling remorseful. ‘Look, I’m sorry I yelled, and thank you for saving my life. It’s just that this spirit has really challenged the Nine to the limit.’

‘Us three, you mean,’ Zubin murmured.

‘That’s precisely the reason why we have to stay together and work as a team. The Seniors are going to help us. Akash, if you go back there now, we run the risk that you will be trapped by the Kala Yogis,’ Tara explained. ‘The Kala Yogis are very powerful. Their energy is immense, it comes from evil and they’ve channelled it to attack us. Despite our powers, we will not be able to handle the large number of Kala Yogis and their energies.’

‘We need a serious plan,’ Zubin said, his expression grim. ‘And we need it quickly.’

They glanced at Raakin. He was unconscious.

45

Tejaswi

Anger spread black and thick in Tejaswi’s heart. The Kalingan was devastated by what had transpired in the warehouse. He should have pre-empted the attack. He should have slapped the dagger away. He fumed. It was not over, they had only managed to incense him further. He would make sure his Tej lived; he knew what her frail, beautiful body needed. He called the Kala Yogis and told them about the healing herbs.
Don’t worry, you will be fine, my beautiful Tej … Stronger and more courageous than before …
Tejaswi moaned in pain. She glanced down and saw the blood pooling in her midriff. ‘You must let me go, Kalingan.’

No! You are mine completely … I gave you life and you will respect our deal … The fight is not over yet …

Tejaswi squeezed her eyes shut, tears spilled out. She turned to the Kala Yogis and said, ‘It is time to make those people suffer. Heal me and make me more powerful than before. Even if I cannot go to Borobudur, those Chintamani fragments will be mine. I will find a way.’

‘We will fill you with the power of the deep black earth and the molten lava of ancient times,’ Mersa said. ‘We will make you one with the eternal energy of black magic.’

‘Yes, heal me,’ Tejaswi murmured and closed her eyes.

The Kala Yogis carried her into the farmhouse. Mersa slit her shirt and exposed the cut. Tejaswi felt their fingers touch her wound. She bit her lip to hold back a scream. They muttered chants. Two Yogis brought a large bowl filled with a herbal paste. The rest of them hovered by her side, chanting in unison. They invoked the power of the great demons of ancient times, the power of killers and warriors of the past. They invoked the spirits of anger and hatred. Tejaswi fell unconscious, but not before she felt the cooling effects of the herbal paste on her stomach and extreme heat at the base of her skull.

46

Tara

Raakin was still unconscious and appeared pale. They reached the city in fifteen minutes. At the first sign of a clinic, they stopped. It was the dead of night, everything was shut and the roadside sleepers didn’t even stir. ‘I will get a syringe,’ Akash broke the flimsy lock and rushed in. No one cried thief. He found a syringe and needle in a glass cabinet. He ripped open the packaging and immediately filled the syringe with the antidote. Then he lunged back to the car. ‘Here, you do it,’ Akash said, handing the syringe to Zubin. As soon as the injection was administered, they watched closely for a reaction. Nothing.

At Tara’s home, they assisted Raakin as best they could. Zubin tried to heal him but there was a block. All they could do was wait.

‘What the hell did they give him?’ Akash wondered aloud in frustration, while Zubin healed the gash on his back.

Tara felt a sense of dread envelop her. She tried to stop the trembling every time she recalled Tejaswi’s violent behaviour. ‘This time the Kalingan is planning something big. I can feel his anger, it palpitates like a powerful monster, and when it rises, it will be deadly. You shouldn’t have stabbed her, Akash.’

47

The Senior Six

Tara, Akash and Zubin were in conference with the collective consciousness of the Senior Six.

‘We have to figure out a way to destroy the Kalingan that will not make Tejaswi kill in retaliation,’ Tara said. She was seated in a meditative pose, eyes closed, mind focused on the others.

‘We have powers but that doesn’t seem to solve the problem,’ Akash said. ‘Tara, you may be right that I should not have stabbed that woman, but for what it’s worth, the Kalingan needs to know we are serious.’

‘But that only antagonized him,’ Tara retorted.

‘I could have turned her to ash, but did not. The intention of using the powers is not simply to kill, it is to do so only if necessary,’ Zubin explained calmly.

‘Your efforts and skill have borne fruit. Despite the Kalingan’s power, you were able to rescue the journalist and her grandmother, as well as Raakin, and managed to escape. All this with the Kala Yogis and the trained fighters challenging you. So, we must not be disheartened. Now, the Three of you conserve your strength, connect it. The Three are going to destroy the Kalingan.’

‘We thank you for your guidance,’ Tara said.

‘I hope we trap the spirit forever,’ Akash said.

‘She will be ash,’ Zubin added.

‘We have a special Dhamma chakra. It is powerful enough to contain the Kalingan spirit, no matter where you destroy the human.’

Their implants buzzed as the connection amongst them strengthened.

48

Raakin

When he came to, Raakin felt like his head was in a vice. The pounding was a continuous, painful throb. He was on the sofa in Tara’s house. The Three were not around. He sat up abruptly and felt a wave of nausea hit him. A glass of water was on the table, for him, he presumed. Raakin gulped it down, pushing back the bitter taste in his mouth. Not good enough. He struggled to the bathroom, slammed the door shut and threw up.

In all his time as coordinator of the Nine, he had never felt such negative emotions towards an entity as he did at that moment.

‘Are you all right?’ Tara asked, tapping on the door.

‘Fine.’

‘Zubin can help you,’ she suggested.

When Raakin returned to the living room, he sat down heavily on the sofa. He felt miserable. ‘You look like shit,’ Zubin remarked. ‘Here, take these.’ He dropped a couple of paracetamol tablets on Raakin’s palm. ‘It should ease the headache. I can’t help you, the Kala Yogis have blocked your aura.’

‘I see. I was expecting to be back to normal soon.’ He offered a weak smile and closed his eyes. His body was like deadweight.

Akash paced the floor restlessly. Tara placed three glasses of iced tea on the table for them.

‘We have to kill her. The Seniors have given us their blessings,’ Akash blurted out, unable to contain himself. ‘Raakin, you have to give us a plan. We are useless otherwise. What good are these powers if we cannot kill that spirit?’

Zubin placed his hand on Raakin’s neck. He felt the muscles relax, the pressure eased. ‘Agreed, but how? She’s got a band of warriors all powered up.’

Raakin felt a surge of energy and sat up with a jerk. ‘Thank you, Zubin.’ He picked up the glass of iced tea and gulped it down. Then he looked at each one of them. ‘I cannot allow that spirit to destroy what we have built for centuries, I cannot let her destroy the Nine. This is war. I will contact the intelligence agencies. We will mobilize a team with the best weapons and we will destroy her and her Kala Yogis. To hell with the Kalingan!’