Rain (The Quest Trilogy-Book Two) (13 page)

“Yes. But the good thing is, you were successful this time, too. You got your third wisdom”

“Why don’t I get pulled out the instant I have collected it? I mean, why wait for me to kill or be killed?”

“Rain … haven’t you noticed? You don’t just get pulled into and out of a Quest. You only leave once you’re ready and are only pulled out once your job there is complete. Nothing happens just like that.”

“Are all these things I’ve faced until now … real? Kaami, Miti …”

“Of course they’re real. You thought they were make-believe? Somewhere, in some part of the world, they exist … well, at least they did, until you got to them.”

Rain felt like he was going to be sick.

“Rain? Are all right? You’re turning green.” said his Geeya.

“Somehow, I don’t feel good at all.”

“Is it the killing of Kaami that’s bothering you?”

“That … and what she looked like.” he said, remembering Kaami’s scaly grey body jerking on his arm as she died and the horrible gurgling sounds she had made. “Pretty much everything about it bothers me.” 

“Even the wisdom?”

“Yes, even the wisdom. I mean, she said never to trust anybody with all your secrets. But there are people who you love and trust entirely. Like maybe your best friend, or your brother. Even the one you love. How can you love someone and not be able to trust them fully? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Actually, it does. When you love somebody, you have to be able to trust them with secrets. What Kaami simply said was to trust nobody with
all
of them.”

“But if I love someone the most, and they love me just as much, then what I reveal shouldn’t make a difference to the way we feel about each other.”

“If you want to continue being the one they love the most, then it would be best to follow Kaami’s advice. People are most forgiving and accommodating to the one’s they love but everyone has their limit. Things they cannot bear to know. Why test that limit?”

Rain fell silent. Was it true? Could revealing your deepest, darkest secrets really make a difference to the way two people felt about each other? But his Geeya was right about one thing – everybody had their limits, so why test the limits of a person’s tolerance?

He remained lost in his thoughts as the hours passed by, unaware of how late it was, until his Geeya floated up to him.

“Maybe we should head back to the hut now. It’s very late.”  She lifted his right hand to observe it. “Thankfully, the deep piercings made by the Nahla have completely healed. It must be the stone’s doing.”

She let his hand drop and moved away and Rain noticed then that the forest had grown very dark and no animals could be heard moving about anymore.

How long had he been sitting there? He had no idea. He got up lethargically and followed the dull glow cast by his Geeya, trusting her to lead him somewhere safe and not really caring where they went.

Soon, they arrived at the hut where Rain found Subodh fast asleep and Heart preparing to do just that.

“Hope I am not disturbing you and your wife?” drawled Rain, approaching Heart from behind.

Heart leapt up to his feet.

“Brother  Rain! You are back from …”

The words died on his lips as he took in Rain’s drawn face.

“Everything all right, brother?”

“What?” said Rain, feeling confused and unfocussed.

“You were successful in your Quest, this time?”

It dawned on Rain then that he was probably looking as sad on the outside as he felt on the inside. He tried to appear cheerful.

“Everything’s fine.” he reassured Heart. “I was successful. Got my third wisdom too, see?” he said, holding out his chain to show Heart the remaining claws.

“You are after wisdoms?” said Heart, looking at the chain on Rain’s neck. “And your chain shows you how many are left?”

Rain gave himself a mental kick. He had just unwittingly revealed his Quest to Heart. Being this scatter-brained was not helping his cause.

“I … aah, yes. Eleven wisdoms in all. I’ve collected three so far.” said Rain. What was the use of hiding anything now?

“Don’t worry, brother Rain. Your Quest is in no danger from me.” said Heart, pouring sincerity.

“I hope so, buddy, I hope so. Please ignore me. I am not myself today.” explained Rain.

He removed fresh clothes from his backpack which was lying in a corner of the hut. Heart’s eyes followed him silently, until he was out of view.

Rain took a dip in the cold, dark sea and instantly felt better. After a short swim he paddled out of the sea and then stood still while making a short cloud-burst wash away the salty sea-water out of his hair and body. He dressed in his fresh clothes, leaving the dirty ones in a wet pile at his feet. He would deal with those in the morning.

When he returned to the hut he found Heart still awake and staring up at the cloudy sky.

“Still awake, mate?” asked Rain.

Heart smiled in response.

Rain set his sleeping bag down next to Heart’s and got in.

“What are you thinking about?” he whispered, not wanting to wake Subodh up.

“You mean, what am I worried about.” corrected Heart, turning his face towards Rain.

“Okay, what are you worried about?” amended Rain.

“You” came the reply.

“Me? Why?”

“You haven’t eaten anything.”

“Oh …that. I’m just not hungry.”

“Difficult task?”

Rain paused to think before answering this time, then gave up because it was just too difficult.

“Er … yeah, it was.”

Heart turned back to look at the sky.

“I had a difficult task, too … my very first one.” said Heart, with a faraway look in his eyes. “I had to escape the Sera.”

“What are ‘the Sera’?” asked Rain.

“They are one-eyed people with no arms and no legs. They sort of roll around to get from one place to the other. Since they cannot move things out of their way, they simply chew through everything.”

“Sounds awful.” said Rain, his attention fully caught.

“It was. They were the guardians of a phoenix’s nest high on top of a mountain below which they lived. My clue was in the phoenix’s nest, hidden between its eggs.”

“How did you get past them?”

“It was fairly easy to climb up. I have legs, see? So I could outrun them any day. And since they could not roll uphill, they were unable to follow me. My luck held once I reached the mountain-top. The phoenix was out. I found the little scroll with my clue on it inside the phoenix’s nest, but in my nervousness, I broke one of the eggs. Phoenix eggs, they are hot like fire! You cannot touch them. And I burned my hand badly. Anyway, I took my clue and ran down, hoping my momentum would help me zoom through the waiting Sera. But when I reached the bottom of the mountain there was nobody there. It was empty. Silence everywhere.”

Heart paused.

“What happened then?” asked Rain.

“I got suspicious. They were supposed to be protecting the phoenix’s nest, and they are just letting me get away? I ran slowly, looking around for them, so I didn’t see the ditch in front of me. Those blasted creatures! Knew they had little chance of catching me if I ran, so they set a trap for me. Chewed the ground and made a ditch in the time I took to get my clue. The minute I fell inside they came rolling out of their hiding places, falling like marbles into the ditch, eager to chew me up.”

Rain couldn’t fathom how Heart could have gotten out of that alive.

“How did you manage to escape?” he asked, forgetting to whisper anymore.

“Miracle.” replied Heart, placing his palm on his heart. “The phoenix had returned. And when she found one of her eggs cracked, she went mad with rage. The Sera had failed in their duty. She swooped down on the ditch, where they were all rolling in by the dozens, breathing fire upon them all. Thankfully, the Sera are terrified of fire. Those who were not scorched fled faster than a thief who has just heard the police siren… and I made good my escape.”

Rain let out a low whistle. He looked at Heart with new eyes of respect.

“That was a tough one. It’s amazing how you pulled out of that intact.”

“I was very lucky.” said Heart modestly. “But I learnt that day itself that my journey in Quniverse was going to be no less than extraordinary, and in order to complete my Quest successfully, I would have to keep my heart as unburdened as possible. It has to work overtime in sticky situations, see?” said Heart, trying to make light of the whole thing.

Rain could see where Heart was going with all this. There was a burden on his heart, too. Would it help to talk about it? Heart had trusted him more than once with his Quest. Could he, Rain, do the same? Or should he keep as much of his Quest as he could, a secret?

Rain gave an inward sigh of resignation. Heart already knew what his Quest was, now. He had given it away himself. Talking about the details of his Quest wasn’t going to change what it was.

Having made his decision, Rain narrated the details of his Kaami Quest. When he was finished, he was surprised at how much lighter he felt.

“Brother Rain…”

“Yeah?”

“If you don’t mind my theorizing, I think it is the Kaami woman’s curse that is making you feel this lingering sadness. You killed a cursed creature before its curse was broken. That has to have some backlash…”

“You think so?”

“I’m pretty certain it’s how these things work. But I think the effects should wear off in a few days.”

“I hope so. I don’t like feeling sad. It’s against my nature… so alien to me.”

“You’ll be fine, brother. Don’t worry.”

Rain looked at Heart with gratitude.

“Thanks Heart. You’ve been a real help tonight.”

“It was nothing. You are welcome.”

The minute the words left their mouths, they knew they had made a mistake. There was a soft shuffling noise above them and then two blows landed in quick succession on each of their heads.

“Ow!” they yelled, turning in irritation towards Subodh, who harrumphed and then promptly dropped off to sleep once more.

Rain and Heart exchanged wry smiles. They should have known better than to thank each other in Subodh’s presence. They decided it was best to call it a night and were soon fast asleep.

*****

As the days passed, Rain hoped that his condition would change for the better. Instead, it only got worse. The feeling of being sad and tired all the time never left him and two months later, he was no better than when he’d started. He was crabby and irritable and even snapped at his Geeya when she reminded him that he had completed one year in Quniverse. He felt terrible about his actions, though, and apologized instantly.

Heart and Subodh were always weary around him now, treading on nails around him. Rain knew what he was doing wasn’t right, but he was helpless against the clouds always looming over and darkening his heart and mind. He frequently found himself making excuses to wander off alone in the forest where he meandered for hours, just moping around and whiling away his time.

A few weeks later, Heart left for one his mini-Quests. This made Rain’s moods go from bad to worse until Subodh, finally fed up of having to put up with Rain’s tantrums, sent him into the forest in search of an ‘Un-garden’.

“What’s an un-garden?” said Rain to his Geeya, as soon as they were alone and out of Subodh’s ear shot.

“It is a garden with some of the most unique flowers. Some with medicinal values, and some best avoided. Did Subodh tell you what to bring back from there?”

“No. He just asked me find an un-garden. Do you know where I can find one?”

She nodded and floated forward in order to lead the way.

They walked along in silence, his Geeya leading and Rain following, head bent low, lost in his thoughts. He saw his Geeya halt and looked up at her expectantly, stopping too.

She was looked left and right with a worried frown and then began to move forward cautiously.

Below him, Rain saw the terrain abruptly change into a scorching hot desert where the temperature was so high, hot smoke was emanating from the sand below. Barely ten steps later the terrain changed into a marshy, wet stretch, clearly separated from the stretch of desert as though by a line. Rain had to crawl on all fours just to cross it. When he got up, there was a snowy stretch ahead of him.

“What’s going on …?” he began, just as his Geeya turned to him and cried “Run!” , and Rain broke into a sprint, running blindly behind his Geeya who was flying ahead.

They passed by several more such bizarre stretches. The snow covered landscape was followed by one in the middle of a terrible sandstorm, after which there were hail stones, followed by extremely heavy rain and lastly, a stretch of cold wind so strong that Rain had to lie down and drag himself across for fear of being blown away if he just ran by. All of these different environments were stretched out like bands of a racing track, going as far ahead as the eye could see.

Once Rain had crossed the last of them, he collapsed on the ground, breathing hard.

“What the
hell
was that about?!” he panted.

“I’m sorry about getting you all panicked, but what you just crossed was the ‘walk of endurance’.” informed his Geeya.

“What’s a ‘walk of endurance’?” Rain snapped testily.

“It is a game played by some of the sequestors who choose to remain in Quniverse once they have successfully completed their Quest.”

“How does it work?”

“They each choose the weather condition, or patch of land that they feel most comfortable with. The more showy ones choose the difficult paths. Then they tie themselves together with a magic string that can increase or decrease in length as required and start walking to see who can last the longest. When all participants have stopped walking, they see who has made it the farthest with the help of the magic string. The losers have to give the winner a rare item each.”

Just then, a group of sequestors went rushing by in front of them, yelling, huffing and shoving each other in the sides, all tied at the waist by a  narrow golden rope. A few who had chosen the windy path were dragging themselves behind the noisy group.