Rajiv Menon -- ThunderGod (22 page)

Just as he felt his arms were going to tear from their sockets, it was over. He dispatched the last of them, a female that had bitten a huge chunk of flesh from his thigh. As he staggered back he slipped on the blood of one of his victims and fell backwards. He tumbled and slid on the loose gravel into the tunnel, which sloped downwards before it fell into a sheer vertical drop. Varuna tried to cling to the edges but only succeeded in dislodging a huge rock that fell into the deep pit after him.

As Varuna hit the bottom, the rock fell on him and pinned the lower half of his body to the ground. He struggled to break free, but the rock was lodged too tight. Even as he thought his predicament could not get any worse, he felt a trickle of water against his face. Varuna pushed the rock with all his strength, but it would not budge.

The water level continued to steadily rise around him even as his struggles to break free intensified. As the water rose above his head, the brave Falcon continued to pit his strength against the rock, but it was to no avail. Slowly Varuna's struggle ceased and his body became still.

***

Agni found himself forced through a tunnel by a throng of the creatures. In the dark he had lost count of the number of heads he had taken. Yet they continued to pour in and fall on his sword, to be chopped to pieces. Then as suddenly as it had begun, the attack ended. Agni continued to swing his sword wildly a few times before he realised there were no more of the enemy left to slay.

He leaned on his weapon and caught his breath. Barring a few superficial wounds, he was relatively unscathed. He started to make his way further up the tunnel when suddenly something fell on his head. It was a Pisacha, a juvenile.

What it lacked in size the little creature made up for in sheer ferocity. It wrapped its hind legs around Agni's neck in a vice-like grip as it tore at his scalp. He grabbed it with his free hand and tried to prise it off his neck. Just then one of its claws went right into his eyeball and ripped it out of its socket. The intense pain gave Agni superhuman strength. He screamed as he pulled the creature off his back by the hair on its head. Then he held it at an arm's length, spat into its face and sliced off its head.

Agni struggled to stay on his feet. He reached for the side of the tunnel to brace himself, but felt only thin air. Just then a body crashed into him and he toppled into space. He hit the ground and found himself tumbling through a shaft along with one of the Pisacha. He hit the bottom with a resounding thud.

Momentarily winded, he struggled to his feet. He found that he was in another tunnel. The air in there felt thick and moist and had a particularly unpleasant smell. As he felt the walls on either side he found they were scalding hot. He needed to get out of there quick. He groped around the floor and found his sword. Finally something was going right for him. He smiled at the thought and listened for any sound that might betray the position of his enemy.

He heard the scratch of claws against stone; it was on his blind side. Agni's smile widened as he swung the sword with all his might in the direction of the sound. The bronze blade struck an overhanging rock and threw out a flurry of sparks. Agni's one eye widened in terror as the very air around him exploded into flames.

***

The tunnel Vayu chose was the nearest, but the most inaccessible. It was high above the water level and required him to scale a steep rock face. He'd seen creatures pour out of this tunnel and spread themselves across the cavern walls as they prepared to repel the Falcons' attack. Their speed and agility on the slippery rock face was amazing to behold. Vayu held his sword between his teeth and started the steep ascent. He used the strength of his upper body to good avail and made use of the numerous footholds to make quick progress up the rock face.

Vayu was already half-way up to the tunnel when the Pisachas spotted him. There was mild panic in their ranks as they turned and headed back towards the entrance of the tunnel to cut him off. Vayu quickened his pace and was there a moment before them. He waited now, sword in one hand, dagger in the other. The creatures began to screech in alarm and tried to stop him from getting into the tunnel. Vayu just stood there and hacked them to pieces. Somewhere in the distance he heard Indra's battle cry. He screamed his response at the top of his voice, momentarily frightening the creatures. As he waited, the next attack came at him from within the tunnel. Three Pisachas jumped onto his back and struggled to knock him off his feet.

As Vayu shook them off, more creatures rushed to the entrance of the tunnel from behind and tried to drive Vayu back. The precariousness of his position only served to spur Vayu on: he chopped and hacked his way into the depths of the tunnel. The creatures were no match for his ferocity and they fell in large numbers before his sword.

The tunnel opened out into a small cave. As Vayu entered it, panic set in among the Pisachas. They began to pile up their dead in his path to obstruct him but soon it was all over. Vayu felt around the floor of the cave with his feet and discovered a pile of dry wood. Using a few pieces of flint from the cave, he made a fire, fashioned a makeshift torch and took a look around. He was shocked to see that a majority of the creatures he had killed in the cave had been females and juveniles. He pushed aside the pile of corpses and looked to see what the creatures were so desperately trying to protect.

In the light of the torch, he saw what looked like a stone altar built against one of the walls. On it, neatly arranged, were bowls of clay, a stone axe, a flint spearhead and a variety of primitive tools. He realised that these creatures had been human once and they had zealously preserved the last vestiges of their humanity in this little shrine.

Vayu was saddened by what he saw; he could not believe that so many females and young had died to protect what seemed like worthless old implements to him. Their actions made them more human than he could have ever imagined. He was filled with remorse at his own ruthlessness. He took a deep breath and sank down to his knees as he surveyed the carnage around him.

A slight sound made him turn in that direction and he saw something that filled his heart with pity. A young Pisacha was squeezing its way out through the corpses. Vayu lay down his sword and offered his hand, and the creature hesitantly took it. As it neared him, it tightened its grip on his hand and leapt for his neck. Before Vayu had an inkling of what had happened, the young Pisacha's razor-sharp teeth locked in his throat. He tried to scream but no sound came out.

Vayu grabbed the creature by its neck and tried to pull it away, but the Pisacha tightened its grip around his throat and severed his windpipe. Vayu tried to breathe, but the air would not reach his lungs. He coughed as warm blood began to fill into his chest cavity. He opened his eyes and saw the creature's face next to his own. Its malevolent red eyes were fixed on him as it waited for him to die. Vayu's grip around its neck slackened. As he struggled for breath, the little creature bent its head and eagerly began to feed.

***

Soma was the last of them to make it out of the pool. The loss of blood from his torn ear had weakened him considerably. His vision was blurred and he floundered about in the pool as he looked for a tunnel to swim to. Just then, he heard Indra's battle cry. It was very close, and reassured, he swam in that direction.

As he dragged himself onto the beach, Soma found it hard to even stand straight. He used his sword to prop himself up and staggered to his knees. As he looked up, he saw a group of Pisacha advance towards him menacingly. Soma waited; he saw their red eyes stare down at him. Two of the creatures stepped forward, crouching as they readied to pounce. He focused on a point a span's length below the line of their eyes and tightened his grip on the sword.

As the two creatures sprang, he swung the sword. The blow had all his weight behind it and was on target as it cleanly cut through the neck of first one and then the other. The two Pisacha were dead before they hit the ground.

Soma fell to one side with the effort. The force of the blow had wrenched the sword from his grasp and it now lay in the sand close by. The other creatures were more circumspect now as they fanned out in a semi-circle and approached him. As he drew his dagger and waited, Soma was sure he would not survive the next attack. He promised himself that he would take as many of them with him as he could.

The attack did not materialise. A surprised Soma watched the group of Pisachas turn away from him at the last minute and rush off. As he looked up with relief to see where the creatures were going, he saw Indra. The Deva prince was standing on a flat rock as scores of the creatures attacked him from all directions. His sword was a blur in his hand as he swung, pirouetted and danced his way through the throng, dealing death and destruction. Soma suddenly felt blackness descend over him and he dropped to the sand, unconsciousness.

When he came to his senses, he saw Indra still on the rock, sword in hand. Around him lay piled the bodies of the dead Pisacha. Soma was so weak he could barely raise his head; he called out to his friend in a weak voice.

***

Indra woke as if from a trance as he heard a faint voice call his name. He made his way through the pile of corpses and found Soma lying close to the water. He rushed to him and took his head in his lap; it was sticky and wet--and still. Indra saw that the pale sand around him was dark with blood. His friend had bled to death.

Indra held Soma's body close to him and wept. He called out to the others, but there was no reply. He had a sinking feeling that they had suffered the same fate. He could not believe how grossly he had underestimated the Pisacha. He had assumed they were dealing with mindless, savage beasts, and the Pisachas had been anything but that. They had worked like an organised army led by an astute general.

They had learnt quickly from their first defeat and planned their next ambush to perfection. Their second attack had split the Falcons, thus preventing them from functioning as a unit. Once they were alone, the creatures had used their superior numbers to good effect and picked them off one by one. Yet through the battle, Indra had seen no sign of their leader.

Just then, he heard a voice in his head. It was the same one from the forest that had initially warned them to keep away.

'Greetings, lord of the Devas. You have won a hard-fought victory. Now step forward and collect your prize.'

He understood now--the Pisacha leader had used telepathy to communicate with his troops, much the same way he was communicating with Indra now.

Indra spoke softly, but there was no mistaking the deadly intent in his voice. 'Do not mock me, man, beast or whatever else you may be. The only prize I want now is your head and I'm coming to get it.'

Indra stood up; the battle with the Pisachas had taken a toll on his body. The flesh on his shoulders and back had been ripped to the bone in many places. The pain however, did not distract him; it only fuelled his rage as he ran for the tunnel.

***

Uruk, lord of the Pisachas, sat on a huge rock, his eyes closed in deep meditation. The cavern in which he sat was made up entirely of quartz. Moonlight entered it from a hole in its ceiling and fell on him. His pale body shone and the light from it reflected off the crystal walls and ceiling and gave the whole chamber an eerie glow.

Indra entered the crystal cavern after a long and arduous climb through the tunnel. His mind and body had been pushed way beyond the limits of their endurance. Only one thought drove him now, the desire for revenge. He raised his sword and advanced towards Uruk.

The lord of the Pisachas stood up and folded his hands in supplication. 'I, Uruk, chief of the Pisacha tribe, thank you, my lord, on behalf of my people for freeing them from this vile existence. I regret that I cannot give you the pleasure of taking my life, for I wronged a power far greater than you or I. It is to that power I must now submit myself.'

He spread his arms wide and raised his head to the light. Just then, a shadow passed over the moon and threw the room in darkness. Then, as Indra watched astounded, a bright yellow light entered the cavern and fell on the rock.

Uruk's body burst into flames and was entirely consumed within moments. Indra saw that not even ashes remained of his adversary. The beam of light now moved slowly across the floor towards him.

Indra stood still, sword in hand. He had no idea how he was going to fight this mysterious force, but he was not going to turn tail and run. If this was to be his end, he was ready to face it. The beam of light hit him and Indra felt a gentle warmth envelop his body. The pain that had been coursing through his body was gone, replaced by a sense of calm. His eyelids grew heavy with sleep. He shut his eyes and felt himself being lifted out of the cavern, through the beam of light, before he lost consciousness.

***

As he came to his senses, Indra felt himself being transported through a vortex at a speed way beyond what his senses could comprehend. Vivid images flashed before his eyes: he saw two giant landmasses collide with each other and the earth begin to fold upwards towards the heavens, towards him. Indra watched in amazement as, from the giant fold that had formed across the land, molten lava began to ooze. He was witnessing the birth of a mountain range, the most magnificent the world had ever seen. Then snow began to fall, and he saw it cover the peaks of the mountains. The images began to speed around him and soon they were moving at a hypersonic pace. He began to lose consciousness again.