The Deadly Conch (21 page)

With a brief nod, Raka stepped out and shut the door. Tara raced to it and pulled it open. “Rakaji, please tell me what's going on?” she said. “Is someone going to try and burn us up again? Once was not enough?” Huge sobs welled up within her, but she swallowed hard, staring into his eyes, silently demanding that he speak the truth.

Raka flinched and glanced furtively behind him. The street was still deserted. He stepped inside quickly and shut the door. Mopping his streaming face, he looked at Tara and Parvati.

“Tara, things are as bad as they can get. The villagers of Pinjaur are demanding blood —
your blood
— for contaminating their well. They're looking for you, but I told them your hut burned down and that you'd already left Morni to find Prabala. They don't believe me. They think you're somewhere in the village, hiding. The last place they'll look for you is in my house. That's why I locked you up and here you must stay. Don't try to escape. If anyone catches you …” He shook his head.

“But why do they want to kill me?” said Tara. “Surely contamination of a well does not deserve a death sentence?”

“Tara, there have been no rains. Crops are failing and already people are starving. They feel Morni's bad luck is spreading to the villages all around. They are here to take care of the source of it.”

“Oh no …” whispered Parvati, her face ashen. “What do we do, Raka?”

“Parvati, you must do exactly as I say. I'm under a lot of pressure from the villagers to do something I don't want to. I'm afraid things are going to get worse. That's why I brought you here. And you must stay here until I tell you otherwise.”

“If your house is so safe then why have you moved Sumathyji and Layla out of here?” said Tara.

Raka's eyes slid away. “I have to go.”

Tara grabbed his sleeve. “Please let us go. We'll be safer in the forest. Staying here is too risky. If anyone found us …”

“No, Tara. The village is teeming with people. Many in Morni also think you're guilty. You haven't a hope of escaping unseen. Did anyone see you enter my house?”

“No,” said Tara.

“Did you tell anyone where you were going?”

“Only Gayatri-ma and Ananth …”

“They won't tell anyone,” said Parvati. “I'd trust them with my life.”

Suraj moaned in his sleep.

“What about my brother?” said Tara. “He's ill and needs water and medicine desperately. You have to send the vaid to us now. Before … it's too … before he gets any worse.” Her voice almost broke, but she caught herself in time. She had to be strong right now; there was still so much to do.

“I'm sorry, Tara. That will have to wait until this mess is over.”

Before Tara could protest he had stepped out the door and locked it.

Tara hurried over to Suraj. A sickly sweet smell came off him in hot waves, making her nauseous. His fever still hadn't broken. She stared into his wan face and smoothed a wisp of damp hair from his forehead. Every fibre of her being longed to hear him say
Didi
once more, but he was deathly silent. Her fingers closed over his small, hot hand. She clasped it to her breast and prayed.

“Didi.”

Tara's heart raced. “
Suraj
, how are you … feeling?”

Suraj looked at her steadily with bright eyes. Too bright. He slipped his hand out of hers and fumbled in his pocket. It was only then Tara noticed the bulge. She pushed his hand aside gently and drew out a small package. It was heavy and without even opening it she knew exactly what it was.

“For … you,” whispered Suraj. He closed his eyes, breathing raggedly.

“What is it, Tara?” asked Parvati. “What's in the parcel?”

“Something he wants me to keep safe for him,” said Tara. She gazed into Suraj's face, feeling as if her heart would burst with pain.

Parvati did not ask any more questions as Tara tucked the bundle into her pocket wondering when she would get a chance to use it.

Once again she took Suraj's hand and clasped it to her chest.
Stay strong Suraj, for my sake stay strong for just
a little while longer.

Minutes, which felt like days, crawled by. Flies attacked Suraj mercilessly. Parvati and Tara waved them away, but in a few moments they were back again, crawling over the exposed burns. Suraj twitched once or twice and then lay still, his laborious breathing filling the room.

“Mother, what's going to happen to us?”

“I don't know, Tara. We can only hope and pray that your grandfather reaches us in time. If only you hadn't gone off for a walk, things wouldn't have gotten out of hand. At a time like this couldn't you have thought about others rather than yourself?”

The words were like knives through Tara's heart. Her own mother thought she was being selfish! Going to the Underworld had been one of the most difficult decisions she'd had to make. And the most selfless. She wanted to scream at her mother to wipe the disappointment from her face because her daughter wasn't someone to be ashamed of! But Tara did not utter a word. A promise was a promise though the injustice of it all was burning her up inside.

“It's all because of Layla,” Tara said finally. “Suraj and I warned you, Mother. We told you she was evil, just like Kali. Maybe even more so, but you wouldn't listen. And now look at what the snake has done to us. She's bitten the hand that fed her.”

“But, Tara, if you weren't there, how did someone see you walk away from the well?”

Tara sighed. “Mother don't you remember? Layla had sulked after I got the new green shalwar-kurta. So, with the remaining cloth you had the tailor stitch her one, too.”

She watched Parvati's face as realization dawned. “Yes … yes of course. I'd completely forgotten about it. You mean she deliberately framed you? But she's just a child … are you sure?”

“YES!” said Tara. “That's what I've been trying to tell everyone! But no one will believe that a
child
can be so vengeful and clever, too. She's the cause of all this. She and her mother.” It slipped out before Tara could stop herself.

“Kali?” said Parvati. “But Kali is dead. You said so yourself. How can Kali be responsible?”

“I-I meant she has the same blood as Kali. Right? Layla is finally showing her true colours.”

Parvati shook her head. “I still can't believe a child could go to such lengths.… She's only nine.”

“If she can do so much damage now,” said Tara softly, “think of what she'll be capable of when she gets older.”

Parvati opened her mouth. No words came out.

A deep voice outside the door shattered the silence. “Where's Tara? Has anyone seen her, or her family?”

Tara froze and clasped Suraj's hand tighter in hers. Parvati put a finger to her lips. She walked to the window, stood on the tin and peered out carefully. Tara watched her, tense as a tightly coiled spring. They were such an easy target in this place. Once the villagers knew where they were hidden, they were as good as dead.

A few moments later Parvati tiptoed back, her face paler than the whitewashed walls around her. Tara was afraid she was about to faint. She pulled her mother to the floor and slid closer, still holding on to Suraj. The three of them sat in silence, holding hands.

And yet Tara was acutely aware of a fourth unwelcome guest in the room — fear.

“They're searching for you,” said Parvati softly. “But they've moved to the next hut. I pray they don't come back.” Her voice trembled.

Tara took a deep breath, listening hard. The voices of the villagers became louder as they passed by the hut in the opposite direction and then died away. They were safe for now. Deep silence fell once more. Tara looked around the room; at her mother, at Suraj. Something was not quite right.

The truth crashed over her like a tidal wave.

She was still clutching Suraj's little hand, but he had slipped away from her grasp forever.

— twenty-one —
Time for Justice

T
ara clutched Suraj's hand tighter, never wanting to let go.

“Let him sleep,” said Parvati. “If he wakes, he'll ask for water.”

Tara shook her head, trying hard to suppress a sob. The shadows, draped around the room seemed blacker than ever before, filling her with a deep dread. She wanted to lie down next to Suraj and never wake up.

She knelt beside her little brother. His eyes were closed, his face almost bloodless. Yet, there was a hint of a smile. As if he had been happy about something during his final moments. Tara choked back another sob and brushed his forehead with her lips. “I'm sorry,” she whispered. “I'm so very, very sorry.”

“For what, Tara?” said Parvati. ‘You didn't hurt him.”

“He's gone, Mother.” Tara stuffed a knuckle into her mouth to stop the scream that was building up inside her.

Parvati stared at her, uncomprehending, and then she looked at Suraj. She touched his skin and jerked her hand away. Tara knew why. His body, which had been burning just a short while ago, was cooling rapidly.

“No,” said Parvati. “No, this cannot be.”

She gathered Suraj in her arms and hugged him tight, sobbing softly. Tara moved closer. Her arm brushed a burn on Suraj's shoulder and instinctively she pulled away, expecting him to whimper. Then she realized he wouldn't make a sound. Ever again.

Flies buzzed around them, drawn by Suraj's wounds. The kitchen was a furnace and yet Tara was cold. As time passed, the cold hardened into anger. Then rage. She had lost her baby brother because of Layla. In spite of everything she had done to save him from Kali and then Zarku, she'd still lost him. To an evil
child
.

If Layla were in front of her right now, she wouldn't hesitate to squeeze her neck as slowly as possible, until Layla's eyes popped and she breathed her last.

Suddenly Tara couldn't sit still a moment longer. She jumped to her feet and grabbed the large, wooden pestle by the kitchen door.

“What are you doing?” said Parvati, her voice still weepy.

“Getting us out of here.”

“Sit down. If the villagers hear you …” She started sobbing again, clutching Suraj tighter.

Tara stared at her helplessly. She wanted to comfort her mother, but she also wanted to escape. The night was fading and she was nowhere close to accomplishing what she had set out to do.

“I'm tired of sitting and waiting,” said Tara. “I have to do something or I'll go mad.”

She held the long wooden pestle in front of her like a battering ram and charged at the door leading to the front room. The shock of the impact threw her backward. The door held. Tara shook out her aching arms. One of the cuts in her palm had opened up again and blood seeped through, but she didn't care. All she saw was a door that separated her from Layla and she had to break it down. Before her time ran out, her stepsister would be dead!

Tara walked farther back and once again charged the door. The pestle broke with a loud crack, showering her with splinters of wood. Her body thrummed with the impact, but the door barely had a dent in it. “Tara you'll hurt yourself,” said Parvati. “I couldn't bear to lose you, too. Can you please just sit down?” Her mother's voice shook so much that Tara abandoned her attempt to escape and hugged her.

Parvati's chest heaved with silent sobs as she clung to her. By this time tomorrow she'd have lost both her children thought Tara. Would she be able to bear it? With her father and grandfather still away, whom would her mother turn to for solace? All of these thoughts tumbled around in Tara's head, numbing her with worry.

“It's all right, Mother,” said Tara. “I'm here. I'm not going anywhere.”

“Has anyone checked Raka's hut?” A gruff voice spoke just outside their door.

Parvati and Tara both stiffened. Tara suddenly realized that she could see her mother's tear-blotched face and red-rimmed eyes clearly. It was almost dawn. She looked at Suraj. The rigidness of his face was apparent now that the shroud of darkness had melted away. Tara wanted to weep anew. Parvati's gaze searched the room and Tara knew why. They couldn't leave Suraj like this.

Tara pulled off the bright yellow duppata from around her neck. She loved yellow. It was the colour of sunshine, the colour of life. She shook it out and covered Suraj's body, giving him some dignity in death.

“That's Raka's hut,” another voice said. “Surely you don't think Tara …”

“Search every house no matter whose it is,” said the first voice. “Those were Kripan's orders.”

Footsteps stopped outside the back door. Tara and Parvati crouched in a corner as far away from the door as possible. The kitchen had no furniture. There was nowhere to hide.

“The door's locked from the outside. Now why would anyone lock a
kitchen
door from the outside?”