The Silver Anklet (6 page)

“It's the hyenas, Tara,” said Ananth. “They could have chosen anyone.”

Tara looked at him steadily, dashing away a tear. “But they didn't choose just anyone. They chose my brother and his friend.”

“What I don't understand,” said Kabir, “is why the hyenas didn't … you know … it's not like them to leave …” He was unable to finish the sentence. Tara stared at him in horror.

What if they had killed Suraj first and had their fill so that there was no room for Rohan? What if there wasn't even a bone of Suraj left by the hyenas? Nausea bubbled up inside her throat. Darkness slithered back toward her, pressing upon her, pulling her down. She was almost ready to succumb and never wake up to face the fact that Suraj had probably died a very painful death. And so had his friend Rohan.

“Tara, are you all right?” asked Vayu. His heavy hand rested on her shoulder. She shook her head and wiped her eyes. Suraj was still alive. She would have known if something had happened to him. He was waiting to be rescued. They had to hurry.

“This is weird,” said Vayu.

“What is?” asked Tara.

“Look here, at his forehead,” said Vayu. He shone the lantern on Rohan's face. Tara forced herself to look at him again. In the middle of his forehead was a dark shadow in the shape of a tear, as if that spot had been singed. A cold hand squeezed her heart.

“There's no way a hyena could have given him that mark,” said Tara. “No way at all.”

“He could have bumped into a tree,” said Ananth.

His voice was soft, undecided. Kabir paced the clearing.

“What could have done something like that?” asked Vayu.

“There is one person who has a mark on his forehead,” said Tara. “Exactly where this one is.”

“Can't you ever give up this foolishness, Tara?” said Ananth.

Tara ignored him and stared at the others around her.

She took a deep breath. “Zarku is back. He's responsible for this.”

“Stop it!” said Raani. “You're just trying to scare us.”

“And you should be,” said Tara. “I've had this uneasy feeling for days now. I even took to wearing this at all time,” she said. She whipped the silver anklet from her pocket and held it out. It lay coiled in her palm; a tiny, cold snake and surprisingly heavy.

“You're showing us your jewellery at a time like this?” said Kabir. “Are you mad, Tara?”

Tara wanted to shake Kabir till his bones rattled. Could he really be that stupid? But she restrained herself. It would do her no good to lose her temper now. “This is no ordinary anklet. It belonged to Zarku's mother,” she said. “It may be the only thing that could protect us from him. The best part is that Zarku doesn't even know I have it.”

“Then how
did
you get it?”asked Raani. Her eyes narrowed as she searched Tara's face. “Did you steal it?”

Tara clasped the anklet tightly in her fist and shook her head. “The night that Suraj disappeared, I thought I had lost him forever. I was all alone, ready to give up on life, too. I heard someone crying. The sound drew me to the abandoned temple deep within the forest. I was shocked at first and very afraid when I saw it was Zarku. He was talking to someone.” She rubbed her chilled arms as the memory of that dark night enveloped her once more; of Zarku discovering her, attempting to burn her to death and failing. It had been a night as dark as this one, but no one had died, certainly not an innocent child.

Ananth did not look surprised — he'd heard this story already, but Raani, Kabir, and Vayu goggled at her.

“He tried to kill you and you survived?”asked Kabir. “How?”

“This anklet saved me,” said Tara. She opened her fist. It sparkled in the lamplight. Tara slipped it back into her pocket, feeling it drop all the way to the bottom, weighing down her kurta.

“I heard his mother had died,” said Raani. “You're making up stories just to sound important.”

“She
is
dead,” said Tara. “He was talking to this anklet about killing Grandfather. I gasped out loud. He heard me and dragged me to the post where I hit my head hard. It fell into the folds of my shawl. Then when he caught me and tried to burn me with his third eye, it would not open. At the time I thought I was incredibly lucky. Now I know it was because of this.”

“What has that got to do with the hyenas?” said Ananth. “I still say you're making too much of this, Tara.

The mark on Rohan's forehead aside, this is definitely the work of an animal. Because of Zarku you became a hero and now you want to relive it again.”

Ananth's words could not have hurt more if he'd slapped her. “And you're feeling left out, is it?” said Tara. Tears pricked her eyes. “Do you really think I would relive those moments when Zarku tried to burn me, just for a little bit of attention? You're so wrong and in a short while I'll prove it to you.”

Ananth did not say a word. He looked away, a sulky expression on his face.

“Enough, you two,” said Kabir. “What do we do now? Go on or go back?”

“I think we should head to the temple where I saw him,” said Tara. “If we don't find anything there, I'll say

I'm sorry. But for now, just listen to me, please. We have to hurry. God, I hope we're not too late.”

“Tara, you're getting worked up for nothing,” said Ananth quietly. “And you're scaring us.”

“I think we should listen to her,” said Vayu. He was still staring at Rohan's body. “This mark on his forehead was not made by a hyena. In fact, I've never seen anything like it. Have any of you?”

No one said a word.

“What are we going to do with Rohan?” said Tara. “We can't just leave him here.”

“We should bury him,” Ananth said, his voice faltering. “At least until we can take him home and give him a proper funeral.

Kabir tested the ground with his toe and found a spot where the earth was soft. They all set to digging at a furious pace. Kabir tried to help, but when his arm popped out of the socket for the third time, Ananth made him stop.

Tara concentrated on digging, though all she wanted to do was sit down and sob. Her eyes lingered on Rohan's inert body. Just that morning she'd woken up and every–thing had been fine. Not in her worst nightmares had she thought that she would be digging a grave for her brother's best friend by the end of the day. The world around her kept going blurry. She sniffed and dug, dug and sniffed.

When the hole was deep enough, Ananth picked Rohan up gently and laid him in the grave, tucking his arms by his sides. Tara reached down and clasped his small hand. “I'm so sorry we didn't get to you in time, Rohan,” she whispered. She gently caressed his face and closed his eyes that had been staring at her, at all of them, accusingly. His skin was cold. She said a little prayer as the others shovelled earth on him hastily. Little by little his small body disappeared till there was only disturbed earth to mark the spot where he lay.

“We should move on,” said Kabir. “Sadia and Suraj are still out there waiting for us.”

“We have to mark this spot,” Tara said, “so we can come back for him.” The words stuck in her throat painfully, as if she had swallowed needles.

“We've done all we can,” said Kabir. “Time's running out.”

“For Sadia you would have had the time,” snapped Tara. She clapped her hand on her mouth at Kabir's stricken expression. “I'm sorry, I didn't mean —”

“No,” said Kabir. “
I'm
sorry. I wasn't thinking.”

They collected rocks in silence and piled them on the grave in a pyramid.

“Douse the lantern and let's go,” said Ananth.

“I'll walk behind Raani,” said Tara. “We need to head toward the abandoned temple. That should be north of here and is probably the best place to start.”

“And how am I supposed to know where that is?” said Raani. “There's nothing to guide me. Not even a star, except you, Tara. You're welcome to take the lead any time.”

Tara sucked in her breath. She was only trying to help and all she had gotten so far was sarcasm and anger. If only Raani hadn't come with them, they would have been better off. In fact she should have set out with only Kabir. They would have moved a lot faster and with much less bickering.

“The moss grows on the south side of the trees in this forest, Raani,” said Vayu. “So if you keep an eye on the tree trunks and which side the moss is on, we will be heading north. Even if we are slightly off, we can correct it in the morning.”

“That's really smart, Vayu,” said Tara. “Thanks!”

Everyone, except Raani, echoed her. Tara was glad Vayu had offered to come along. He spoke little, but when he did, it made a lot of sense. He had said he was an orphan. She remembered the moment with painful clarity when she thought she had lost Suraj forever, believing she was all alone in the world. It had been one of the worst moments, ever. And here was this boy, living that moment for a lifetime.

The slow, agonizing walk made Tara want to scream in frustration. Unable to see anything around her, she could only think; the last thing she wanted to do.

Where were Suraj and Sadia right now and what was that madman doing with them? She had killed Zarku, so how had he come alive? Hadn't Lord Yama buried his ashes? Why had the hyenas snatched them? Could Ananth be right? Her head buzzed with irritating questions, as if some of the mosquitoes had crawled inside it.

The heat sat heavily on her shoulders weighing her down with every step. When would this nightmare end?

The next hour took every ounce of Tara's discipline. The heat was unbearable. It was like walking across a gigantic tandoor. Now she knew what a roti felt like when it was cooked. She had to move entirely by touch. Roots tripped her up and branches clawed at her as she walked past. Every so often a prickly bush snagged her kurta and she heard it rip as she walked on. By morning her clothes would be in shreds, but she was too tired to care.

Ananth and Kabir cursed softly. Tara heard a colourful word now and then from the Night Queen though she was the only one who could
see
. Only Vayu plodded on, breathing heavily, but without a word of protest.

The mosquitoes were the only ones having a good time as they swarmed in and out of her eyes and nose and ears, in a torturous game of catch-me-if-you-can.

She could use only one hand to swat them. The other was firmly clasped onto Raani's shoulder ahead of her.

Let this end, let us get out of the forest soon before I go mad
, she prayed. How lucky she and Suraj had been when they had run away in winter. With all the extra clothing, they had been warm and, to some degree, comfortable.

But this heat was driving her insane. She focused on counting the steps, trying to obliterate everything else from her mind. Each step would bring her closer to Suraj. Tara counted with fierce determination.

When she had counted to two hundred, something changed. At first she could not figure out what it was but when Raani turned to look behind her and Tara
saw
her turn, she knew.

Light! There was light coming from somewhere. The blindfold of darkness was suddenly stripped away and she could
see
. Ahead, the unmistakeable glow of a fire beckoned. Involuntarily, everyone walked faster.

“Slow down,” said Ananth. “And be very quiet. We don't want to alert whoever it is and nor do we want to walk into something unpleasant.”

The trees thinned and there it was — as she remembered it from many moons ago — the temple. It rose out of the shadows, a pale white stone dome, with two smaller ones on either side. It was bleached of all colour. A network of deep black cracks criss-crossed the squat building with its ornate pillars. A fire burned in the deserted courtyard in front of it and they all moved toward it stealthily.

“Is this it?” asked Ananth.

“Yes,” breathed Tara. She gazed at the temple trying to shake off the feeling of horror that enveloped her. Zarku had almost killed her the last time she had been here. What was in store for them,
for her
, this time?

In some parts the white stone had broken away in chunks, leaving a raw, jagged edge covered with moss.

The forest was slowly devouring the temple. Much of its base and many pillars were already ensnared by vines and creepers.

Next to her, Kabir's breathing quickened, Vayu's stomach gurgled softly, and Raani muttered under her breath. They were still a distance away from the low wall that encircled the courtyard strewn with broken stone.

It was the same one Tara had hidden under, when she had discovered Zarku.

They moved closer. There was no one there; neither hyena nor human. Were they hiding in the temple, watching them approach? Was this a trap? Tara's pulse raced. Her heart slammed against her ribcage.

The fire burned brightly, a patch of gold imprinted on the dark night. The dancing flames seemed to reach out for her with their hot fingers. Her skin burned with the memory of Zarku's third eye upon her, his maniacal laughter filled her ears and then the fire went out.