The War of the Grail (21 page)

But nothing had happened. He’d received no great power, no weapon he could use to fight the Rajthanans.

He lowered his arms and looked back at Kanvar, who was still watching from the edge of the forest. The Sikh did nothing other than bow his head slightly in Jack’s direction.

Jack knew Kanvar couldn’t help him. No one could. He would have to somehow discover the secret of the Grail by himself.

The sun was rising and the light was filling in the detail around him. He was right out in the open. Anyone approaching would see him instantly.

But what more could he do? He bent down and touched the ground. Perhaps that would help. When nothing happened, he touched one of the standing stones. Still nothing.

He went round the circle, touching each of the stones in turn. Nothing happened. Nothing at all.

He rubbed his face with his hands. He’d come all this way and now he had no idea how to use the Great Yantra.

Then he had an idea. He sat down, crossed his legs, straightened his back and put his hands on his knees. He took a deep breath and shut his eyes.

He would meditate. Perhaps if he went into the trance and got himself close to the spirit realm, he would unleash the Grail’s power.

The growing light reddened his eyelids. He felt a trace of heat from the sun on his face. He tried to shut it all out – the sun, the slight breeze, the sattva storming about him. He had to leave this world of pain and illusion behind and see himself as he truly was, a spirit that had dwelt for ever in the purusha realm, which the English called heaven.

Memories, as always, tumbled through his head. He saw, in quick succession, Katelin, Elizabeth, Cecily, Jhala, William …

But then he managed to calm his mind. The ripples across its surface stilled.

He drifted far away from the material world. Silence settled over him. He was touching the purusha realm now.

And then nothing happened.

Damn it. He opened his eyes and slipped out of the meditation. Damn it.

He grasped a clump of earth and dashed it across the ground. He couldn’t fail. Not now, when his people needed the Grail so badly. Kanvar seemed to think the Rajthanans were already using the Great Yantra. There was no reason why he, Jack, shouldn’t be able to as well.

He shut his eyes again and breathed in. Now. He must find a way to gain the power of the yantra now.

But then Kanvar called out.

Jack opened his eyes and saw the Sikh waving at him and shouting, ‘Someone’s coming!’

That was all Jack needed.

He scrambled to his feet and ran back to Kanvar and the horses, slipping out of the sattva stream again.

‘Where?’ he asked Kanvar.

The Sikh pointed to his right, to the south.

Jack squinted. At first he saw nothing, but then he made out the faint form of a rider coming over a ridge.

He swung himself up into his saddle. ‘We’d better get back into the trees.’

They guided their horses into the woods, where they waited, watching the approaching figure.

‘Did anything happen?’ Kanvar asked. ‘In the meeting point?’

Jack gritted his teeth. ‘Nothing.’

‘Ah. I did make clear I had doubts—’

‘Just shut it.’ Jack felt his face growing hotter and he fought to control himself. Kanvar hadn’t meant anything by what he’d said. But all Jack could think about at the moment was the destruction of Shropshire.

He slowly calmed himself as the rider drew nearer. The figure was a man who wore Rajthanan cavalry uniform, although he hardly looked like a Rajthanan. He was Indian, but he had a huge, bushy beard that reached down to his chest. Jack had never seen a Rajthanan officer with a beard like that.

‘It is Takhat.’ Kanvar smiled slightly. But, at the same time, moisture was building in his eyes.

Jack frowned. Why was Kanvar reacting like that? ‘You sure it’s him?’

Kanvar nodded, then rode out to meet his commander. Jack nudged his horse into a trot and followed.

Takhat spotted Kanvar immediately and wheeled his horse round to meet him. He was a short, stocky man with thick eyebrows that flicked up at the ends. Judging by the flecks of silver in his beard, he was at least Jack’s age, or older.

When Takhat noticed Jack, his eyes narrowed and his expression soured. He looked Jack up and down slowly, before returning his gaze to Kanvar.

Both Sikhs dismounted and Kanvar showed his respect by bending down and touching Takhat’s feet. The Sikhs spoke to each other in their own language, which Kanvar had told Jack was called Punjabi. Although Jack could make out a few of the words, which were similar to Rajthani, he found it impossible to follow the conversation.

Takhat’s tone seemed sharp, and he glared at Kanvar with apparent displeasure. But then, after Kanvar had spoken at length, Takhat’s face suddenly lit up, his eyes widened and a grin spread across his lips.

He shot a look at Jack and said in broken English, ‘You have found the centre of the Great Yantra?’

Jack glanced at Kanvar, who responded with a nod, confirming it was all right to talk.

‘Yes,’ Jack said. ‘I found it.’

‘We thank you for your information, Englishman,’ Takhat replied. ‘You have done well. Now, you will leave us. I must discuss this with my apprentice in private.’

Apprentice? Takhat was Kanvar’s guru? Jack looked at Kanvar and was surprised to see the Sikh’s eyes welling up with tears again.

Kanvar sniffed and quickly got himself under control. ‘Yes, please could you leave us for a moment, Jack? There is much we need to discuss, and we must transfer information between our maps.’

Jack stalled. His horse danced sideways for a few steps before he calmed her. He didn’t understand maps or Punjabi. But all the same, why was he being ordered away? ‘Why in private?’

‘That is what Takhat wishes,’ Kanvar said. ‘Please, Jack.’

‘You must leave us now, Englishman.’ Takhat’s voice was harsh and his expression had turned serious again.

Jack sucked on his teeth. He didn’t like being ordered about, not least by someone he’d never met before. Takhat might be Kanvar’s guru, but Jack owed him nothing.

At the same time, Jack very much wanted to get back to the meeting point. He couldn’t give up on the Grail yet. He had to keep trying. For the present, he would have to trust Takhat and Kanvar. They were the only ones who could find the design of the Great Yantra, and there was no point in arguing with them at this stage.

He looked at Takhat and then at Kanvar. ‘Very well. I’m going back into the stone circle. Keep a lookout.’

Jack swung himself down from his saddle and handed his reins to Kanvar. He looked Kanvar in the eye for a second. ‘You tell me if anything important comes up during your talk.’

Kanvar took the reins. ‘Of course.’

Jack strode across the grass towards the circle. The light had brightened further and the sun had almost completely risen.

He didn’t understand what was wrong with Kanvar. The Sikh seemed worried about something – upset, even. And also, what were Kanvar and Takhat discussing? And why did it have to be in secret?

But none of that mattered. As soon as he could, he would question Kanvar further. But right now he had to get back into the Great Yantra and try as hard as he could to use the power.

He slipped into the stream again and the whirling sattva buffeted him. He stopped for a second outside the stone circle, then strode in, the powerful sattva blasting him once more.

He shut his eyes for a moment. The sattva made the insides of his ears itch.

What now? Here he was again, touching the Great Yantra – or the Grail, or whatever it was. But nothing was happening.

He sat on the ground in the middle of the circle and crossed his legs. Did he have to accept that he wasn’t the new Galahad? That he wouldn’t be the one to find the Grail? Or even accept what he’d long suspected, and what Jhala had told him, which was that there was no Grail? The old stories were myths. Fantasies.

The Great Yantra might be real, but it would only be used through recalling the design and smelting sattva, in the same way as all the yantras. Anything else was nonsense.

And yet he couldn’t give up. Not yet. Because that would mean returning to Folly Brook with nothing. Kanvar had said it would still take weeks – months, even – for the Sikhs to discover the Great Yantra’s full design. Shropshire would be crushed long before then.

He looked across at Kanvar and Takhat, who were now sitting on the ground, hunched over their maps. Takhat was brandishing a pen and making marks on his chart.

Jack shut his eyes. There was still time for him to try one more time. He took a deep breath and concentrated on the cool air flowing down the back of his throat and into his lungs. He quickly managed to calm his mind and slip into the trance. Slowly, he inched his way closer to the spirit realm. The material world fell away, as if he were soaring above it like a bird.

But still nothing happened. He kept trying for around fifteen minutes. Still nothing.

The problem was, he didn’t know what he was supposed to be doing – or even what would happen, if he were successful.

Then he heard shouts.

His heart jolted and he flung his eyes open, instantly sliding out of the trance. Was someone coming? Was Kanvar trying to warn him?

But what he saw was puzzling. Takhat and Kanvar were standing facing each other. Takhat was pointing his finger at Kanvar and barking loudly. Kanvar stood with his head bowed and his hands behind his back. He replied only softly, his voice too quiet for Jack to hear from where he was sitting.

Takhat’s bellowing became even more heated.

Was he going to attack Kanvar?

Jack stood and jogged across to the Sikhs. ‘What’s going on?’

When Kanvar turned to face him, Jack saw the Sikh’s eyes were bloodshot and glassy. Takhat scowled at Jack, shouted a few further words at Kanvar, then marched over to his horse and rode away, without looking back even once.

‘What the hell was that about?’ Jack asked.

Kanvar’s eyes brimmed with tears. ‘It is not really important.’

‘Not important? You don’t look happy about it.’

Kanvar stared at his boots. ‘I have been discharged from the army, cast out of my order and disowned by Takhat, my guru. If I return to my homeland, I will immediately face a court martial.’

Jack blinked. ‘Why?’

Kanvar looked up. His face was long and serious. ‘I disobeyed Takhat’s orders. I should not have gone to your village and I should not have told you about the Great Yantra. Takhat specifically instructed me not to do these things.’

‘Why would he do that?’

‘The Great Yantra is a secret. We siddhas are bound to keep the secrets of our orders. Also, Takhat believed I was becoming … too close to you rebels. He said to me months ago that my judgement was clouded. I was not to see you again, Jack, and I was not supposed to even go into Shropshire.’

Jack’s eyes bored into Takhat’s receding figure. He hadn’t liked Takhat much when he’d first met him, and he liked him even less now.

He returned his gaze to Kanvar. ‘You went against your commander’s orders to help me and the rebels?’

Kanvar nodded solemnly.

‘You’ve risked everything?’

‘Indeed, that is so.’

‘I don’t know what to say. I didn’t realise.’

‘No, it is all right. There is no need for you to say anything. It was my choice and my choice alone. I was quite clear about what I was doing.’

For the first time, Jack believed he had some insight into Kanvar’s thoughts. The Sikh had seemed caught up in some internal battle over the past few days. It must have been a painful decision to come to Folly Brook, to tell Jack about the Great Yantra and to bring Jack along to this spot.

Jack scratched the back of his neck. ‘Why did you tell the truth to Takhat? Why didn’t you make up some story?’

‘That would be wrong. I could not lie to my guru. And in any case, he suspected something when he saw you here with me.’

‘I see. I still don’t understand, though. Why have you done all this? Why help me when you didn’t have to?’

‘I try to always follow Waheguru’s will. Your struggle against the Rajthanans is a just one. Your lands have been taken by a powerful foe and you wish to get them back. The right thing for me to do is to help in whatever way I can. It was a difficult decision, because one should also follow one’s commander’s orders.’

‘You couldn’t win either way.’

‘Exactly. Whatever I did would be both wrong and right. It was a dilemma.’

‘Well, I’m glad you made the right decision in the end.’

‘There was only one decision I could make. I hesitated many times. That is why it took me so long to return to your village. But, in the end, after considering it carefully, I realised it was Waheguru’s will that I help the English.’

Jack nodded slowly. He knew well enough what it was like to make a difficult decision. When Jhala had ordered him to capture William, four years ago, he’d had to decide whether to do as he was told, or risk Elizabeth being hanged. He’d been faced with an impossible choice.

‘What will you do now?’ Jack asked. ‘Where will you go?’

Kanvar frowned. ‘I will come with you, of course. Back to Folly Brook – I assume that’s where you’re going. I said I would help in the fight against the Rajthanans. I will not abandon you now.’

Jack felt a surge of warmth in his chest. Kanvar might be odd, but he was undoubtedly an ally – and the English needed as many of them as they could get now.

Jack was humbled for a moment. Kanvar had given up everything to help the crusade.

Jack put his hand on Kanvar’s shoulder. The Sikh jumped slightly, looked at the hand and frowned.

‘You’re a good man.’ Jack patted Kanvar’s shoulder firmly. ‘I can’t thank you enough.’ He lowered his hand again. ‘All the same, I can’t ride back yet. I still can’t get the Great Yantra to work. I can’t go back empty-handed.’

‘I am afraid I think you will have to,’ Kanvar replied.

‘I must try again. At least once.’

‘There is little time. Takhat told me something else. Something you should know.’

Jack frowned. ‘What?’